It's in her Blood
by Lady Helena Styvhals
Summary: Tsuna has always felt like something was terribly wrong with her. No sense of balance, her ability to think clearly crumbles when stressed, and her body just didn't feel like it belonged to her. But everything changed one faitful day. It all changed at a BANG! Complete rewrite of the KHR series, a more serious take on how the series COULD have gone had it never been for laughs.
1. Target 1

**A/N: Prepare yourselves.**

 **This is:**

 **10% KHR Premise**

 **20% KHR Basic Storryline**

 **15% KHR Characters and Basic design**

 **5% KHR Setting**

 **50% My Own Ideas**

 **And 100% I REALLY WANT YOUR FEEDBACK ON THIS!**

 **You have been warned.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 1:**

 **Humans just aren't bulletproof**

She was turning sixteen that year.

She didn't know why, but something about her life being relatively normal all the way up to this point felt terribly wrong to her. Something gnawing at the back of her mind, telling her that something wasn't right, that she should be doing something else entirely right about now, but she couldn't for the life of her understand what.

With a sigh, she turned her light brown eyes back towards canvas stationed in front of her, resuming the movement of her slender arm guiding the tiny limb that was her right hand holding the brush.

She had flecks of paint spattered all over the white short overalls she always wore when painting, the light-blue T-shirt under it left unharmed. Her messy, shoulder-length golden brown hair had been tied up into an equally messy ponytail at the back of her head.

Painting was one of the only things she could do right. One of the only things that managed to give her piece.

With a final smear between the darker and lighter color, Tsuna allowed herself to lean back and take a look at the result of her six hours on the porch.

She had skipped half the school-day again today.

This weeks painting was a forest clearing. The tree's greenery parting ways for the piercing rays of the sun, allowing the flower-covered grass to bask in it's warmth. She had added a bolder in the middle of the clearing to give the viewer more to look at and she smiled as she allowed her eyes to wander over the expertly placed shadowing.

She's always been proud of her sense for shadows.

Cleaning up her supplies, Tsuna carefully put each utensil back into the wooden briefcase in which they had their home. Each and every piece had it's own assigned spot and she triple-checked that everything was in place before she set the case down way out of reach for her bare feet.

Picking down the painting with great care, she carried it up to her bedroom where she hung it in the designated spot for "Painting of the week" as the paint dried. The Paintings from the previous weeks were stashed at the back of her closet. The only place she could put them really as her bedroom had a severe lack storage space.

After having fetched her art-supplies from downstairs, the young woman changed out of her paint-splattered clothing, hanging them back in her closet before putting on a pair of white jeans hot-pants, a pink and white striped hoodie that semi-clung to her figure as well as had sleeves that reached to her mid-palm and finishing the look with a pair of white thigh-socks.

Her clothing were practically the only things in her bedroom asides from her art-supplies and desk stationaries that had a designated place to put them and thus, one of the few things in her bedroom was had order to it.

Her floor was covered with discarder papers, books, half-filled sketch-books, her pen collection, make-up, jewelry, accessories, shoes, not to mention the antique toys her father had bought her from overseas for her birthdays and Christmas. Some of the toys he had gotten her were simply too beautiful to be put away, and so, they made their place in her bedroom as decorations that were rarely seen over the rest of the mess.

She really needed to get more storage space...

At the moment, that didn't matter to her as she dropped down into the very comfortable office-chair standing in front of her desk.

Breathing in the strong scent of fresh oil-paint, she popped open her laptop.

Her life was... to put it simply...

Boring.

She had just graduated middle-school with barely passing grades and started high-school just two weeks ago. Somehow she had gotten the strange idea that high-school was going to be different.

Good different.

How wrong she was.

High-school was just the same, if not worse.

Where middle-school had been filled with kids with low self-esteem at the beginning of puberty, High-school was a gathering of hormonal carnivores that were just waiting for something small to sink their teeth into.

And it just so happened that that little something was Tsuna.

She couldn't help it, she really couldn't. No matter how many lessons she took in classic ballet her sense of balance remained just the same. Non existence. She could trip over practically anything, the ballet just gave her the reflexes that prevented her from falling on her nose all the time. She had though she would outgrow it but she still found herself completely unable to focus during times of stress, she tries to sit down and take a test and her brain crumbles.

She hasn't passed a test since, ever.

The only reason she was able to pass her grades was because her homework all came back with passing, if not better grades and she volunteered to prove her knowledge in other means than tests in a desperate attempt not to get held back, and thankfully, it worked.

But now, she was stuck in a class of hormonal monsters that were all trying to make themselves feel better by trying to make her feel like something less than human.

And so, she buried herself in her own little world of art and the written word.

Her book collection was enormous, standing in stacks all over the room as she didn't have a shelf to put them on. She would read them whenever she returned home after a particularly horrible day as a means to escape everything.

Had she been any normal person, she probably would have ended it all a long time ago, but Sawada Tsunako was not a normal person. At least, she didn't think she was. As the days passed by she always had this strong, very, very, strong suspicion that something was going to happen to her, something that would change her life completely.

She just had to suck it up and deal with her life until that day finally came.

* * *

She woke up the next morning to the sound of her alarm-clock blaring at a medium-high volume.

She had discovered that it was easier for her to wake up to smaller sounds than loud ones for some reason. She didn't complain though as it worked and she didn't have to feel as if she was waking the neighbors with the sound of her alarm.

Leaving her hair in the usual mess it was in, she put on her uniform consisting of a short dark blue plaid pleated yoke-skirt, a white short sleeved button-up blouse, black socks that she preferred to wear up to her thighs, a red tie, and a black button-up vest with a black blazer edged in white over it.

She didn't bother checking her reflection in the full-body mirror standing in the corner to the left of her bedroom door. She knew what she probably looked like as all the garments apart from the skirt and socks were two sizes too big.

She had picked the size with future growth in mind, but she was paying for that choice in the mocking voices of her classmates believing that she was too ashamed to show off her figure since she most likely didn't have one.

Their words, not hers.

Wandering into the kitchen, Tsuna saw her mother standing at the counter like she always did, she was almost never seen anywhere else. She was wearing that regular light pink apron with long chocolate brown hair twisted up into a bun at the back of her head.

It had been jaw length two years ago but her mother found that she hadn't liked the look, and so she grew it out. Now, it reached a few inches below her shoulders meaning it was actually longer than Tsuna's when she actually took the time to brush it.

"Ohayo." Tsuna greeted, letting her school bag slip down against the leg of the dinner-table before she herself slided down onto the chair.

"Ohayo, Tsuna-chan." Sawada Nana greeted back, turning around towards her daughter with two plates clutched in her one hand and a glass of milk in the other.

No one could say that Tsuna got her lack of balance from her mother.

Or her hair for that matter.

It was odd to Tsuna that her mother had such a dark brown color of hair and her father (the Half- Italian that shall forever remain a secret to her school mates) had such a dark blond hair color whilst she got something of a mix between the two. Only, as her hair was at the moment, that particular factor was out of eyesight. It looked more like dark brown but that was just because she hadn't washed it in about three days now.

She should get to that before she goes to bed tonight.

Nana had made egg and toast for breakfast today with two wieners on the side. The woman sat down the two plates (one had the toast on it) in front of her daughter along with the glass and proceeded to just watch the teenager as she started eating, a worried look on her face.

About half-way through her meal, the look became too much for Tsuna.

"Mom." the girl called out, turning in her seat towards the woman.

At the sound of her daughter's voice, the woman jumped slightly. Too caught up in her own thoughts to register anything else then Tsuna suspected.

"Mom, what is it?"

It took a few seconds but the woman eventually let out a long breath, sliding into the chair opposite Tsuna, looking at her daughter with worried eyes.

"There's just something..." the woman began, closing her eyes for a moment before she looked at her daughter again. "I feel as if something terrible is going to happen today."

Tsuna couldn't help a frown from creeping up over her face.

Reaching out, she took her mothers hand.

"Nothing going to happen." she assured her. "It's just school."

Calming down a little, Nana smiled again.

"I suppose you're right."

* * *

Tsuna let out a sigh of relief once the bell signaling the end of school finally rang. Allong with several other of her classmates of course.

Standing up, she was just about to gather up her things when a group of boys at the back of the classroom caught her attention.

They had gathered up in a tight circle, whispering about something Tsuna was too far away to hear, but she was sure they were whispering about her if the looks she could see them throwing in her direction from the corners of their eyes were anything to go by.

Suddenly, the group parted.

There stood Takahashi, one of her more relentless bullies, his face a permanent smirk as he slowly began to raise what could only be a gun, barrel pointing directly at her.

Her blood run cold.

"I'm tired of your face Dame-Tsuna." Takahashi said. "Just die already."

In normal circumstances, the sight of a gun should have frightened everyone. But as Tsuna spared a glance at her classmates, she found some of them snickering into their hands in a lame attempt to try and look scared at the sight of the weapon.

So this was just a lame attempt to scare her then...

Frickin' bullies.

"Hey, stop that."

Tsuna turned her head to see Yamamoto Takeshi getting up from his desk, a serious look in his eyes as he stood behind Tuna, but a little to her right so that he would be able to see Takahashi.

He was not amused by their classmate's actions.

"You're taking this a little too far Takahashi."

Seeing Yamamoto serious was a very rare thing as he usually smiled at everything, so seeing him so serious, practically glaring at his shorter classmate was a new thing for them. A new thing that apparently, no one in the room liked seeing.

"Calm down Takeshi." Takahashi breather, lowering the gun a little.

He gestured with the gun, still pointing in Tsuna's direction.

"It's not even loaded, see." and so he took aim again, and pulled the trigger.

 **BANG!**

The silence that followed that cringe-worthy sound was even more deafening than the sound itself. Everyone just stared at Takahashi with eyes wide open in fear, some even took a step away from him, worried that he might turn the gun towards them.

Takahashi on the other hand, looked just as shocked as everyone else, his eyes turned towards the smoking gun in his hand. He didn't waste one second before he let the weapon drop down to the floor with a loud clattering sound.

Not one eye was turned towards Tsuna.

They probably should have been.

Slowly, the girl removed her hand clutching at the side of her stomach, looking down at it only to find her fingers covered in a thick, red liquid.

"Blood..." she murmured over the silence, each and every one of her classmates picking up on it for once in the few weeks she had been among them.

As if on cue, all eyes turned towards her just in time to see her knees give out from under her, letting her fall too the ground in what would have been a painful position had not one of the school's most popular athletes sun up to her and caught her in his arms before she did.

He stared down at her stomach, at the liquid that had begun to soak her clothing.

"Sawada." he said as he carefully maneuvered her to lie on her back, cupping his hands over her wound. "Sawada, stay with me."

Her eyes were still open, but as he looked at them, they were starting to loose their previous glow, clouding over.

"What is going on here?"

Everyone in the classroom froze at the cold voice of their disciplinary committee chairman. Yamamoto was the only one brave enough to look up at him.

Hibari Kyoya took a quick glance around the classroom, sparing a longer glance on Tsuna, the gun on the floor, and Takahashi before a fished his cellphone out of his pocket so quickly that one might have believed that it suddenly just appeared in his hand.

No one noticed him dialing a number, he just put the phone to his ear, his eyes never leaving Takahashi whom had begun to tremble where he stood, but all the younger boy did was stare at the bleeding girl in disbelief.

He had done that to her.

Hibari Kyoya shared a short conversation before he snapped his phone shut and stalked over to the girl who's life was slowly draining out of her. He crouched down opposite Yamamoto leaning over the girl, putting one hand to her cheek as he stared into her eyes.

"The ambulance will be here in five minutes." he said, his voice the only thing steady in the room at the moment. "You think you can hold on till then herbivore?"

For a moment, he got no response, then, Tsuna's lips moved.

"I'll... try..."

This brought a smirk to Hibari's mouth.

"You're stronger than you look herbivore." he complimented. "Most people wouldn't be able to talk at this point."

This got a loose shake of her head.

"Used... to... pain."

And it was true.

Sometimes, when her classmates were tired of just bullying her with words, they took to physically hurting her. Pushing her down the stairs, shoving her into walls, pulling her hair. Anything that could help them vent their frustration made it's way to her. She was just glad no one had decided to vent their sexual frustrations on her yet.

A knowing look spread across Hibari's face before he shook his head.

He glanced at Yamamoto.

"Keep up the pressure on her wound." he said. "It's going to give her a few extra minutes."

Standing up, Hibari turned towards the rest of the class, the fires of rage burning inside his piercing, icy-gray eyes.

"I will not tolerate bullying inside my school." he murmured, however, just like Tsuna's one word, his was heard by each and every one of them, making their blood freeze up in their veins. 90% of the people in the room had taken part of the bullying at one point or another. The people that obviously weren't guilty were starting to gather around the dying girl, trying to give her the strength to keep living just a bit longer.

Sasagawa Kyoko.

Kurokawa Hana.

And Yamamoto Takeshi.

Hibari glared at the rest of the class.

"Kami korossu."

* * *

Back in the Sawada Household, a plate slipped out of Nana's hand and crashed to the floor.

* * *

The ambulance arrived when Hibari said it would. The paramedics rushed up the stairs to their classroom and took the still bleeding girl from Yamamoto's hands.

Tsuna had passed out about a minute previously but Kyoko had been caring enough as to keep track of the girl's pulse, making sure that her heart was still beating until she had to move out of the way for the paramedics to take over.

It was a traumatic experience for the whole class.

One student desperately fighting for her life.

One student having to live with having shot someone when it was meant as a joke.

Three students having desperately tried to keep the drying girl alive.

And a whole classroom frightened out of their minds due to the punishment they would have to go through with the school's scariest person for bullying the girl, and it was the bullying that had caused the girl to end up in that position.

As the paramedics disappeared with Hibari in tow, (probably to ensure that they weren't behind the death of one of the students of his school) Yamamoto Takeshi remained on his knees, staring at his blood-stained hands.

Yamamoto had never actually thought about how fragile a life could be, and now, he had gotten to experience actually holding a life in his hands.

He never wanted to go through something so terrifying again.

Sasagawa Kyoko and Kurokawa Hana were right next to him, Kyoko's hands resting on his shoulders and Hana just stared. Desperately, they tried to gain some strength from each other as all three of them had been working on the same goal.

Keep Sawada Tsunako alive.

Silently, and without knowing it, the three of them all agreed on one thing. From that point on, the three of them would work to stop bullying at school. If what happened to Sawada Tsunako was anything to go by, then bullying can be much more dangerous than one believes.

* * *

Tsuna woke up in the hospital three weeks later with her Mom asleep next to her, clutching her hand.

Immediately, she knew something was different.

Before, she had felt as if her body didn't belong to her, like she was wearing the costume of a school-mascot that was too heavy and way too big for her and she also suspected that she must have been slightly allergic to the material of which the costume was made out of. But now...

Never mind the slight pain in her stomach, she felt as if someone had finally noticed her predicament and exchanged the costume for one that was more her size. It was still heavy and made out of the same material, but she wasn't as bothered by her own body as she was before. She tried out her limbs to see if anything was wrong with her but she found that all her motions were normal and her wound was almost healed.

She must have been in a coma for quite some time for that to happen.

Looking down at her mother's sleeping figure, she remembered the last time she saw her, what she had said.

She sighed.

"Looks like you were right Mom." she whispered, finding that there was not much wrong with her voice apart from the natural hoarseness that came with the lack of use.

Gently, Tsuna let her hand slide out of her mothers so that she may stroke it over her long hair.

She hadn't put it up today, and it looked considerably messier than it had been the last time she had seen her.

When was the last time her mother had showered?

At the touch of her hand, Nana began to stiffen.

Opening her eyes, Nana was met with those identical pair of light brown eyes she had been waiting for for three whole weeks at her daughters side.

"Tsuna-chan!" she called out in happiness, throwing her arms around her daughters neck and hugging her close to her chest. Nana had never been so frightened in her whole life as she had been that moment the school principal called to tell her that her daughter had been shot by a careless classmate and was currently at the hospital.

Sitting down with her daughter, Nana told her daughter what had happened whilst Tsuna had been out cold.

Apparently, Takahashi had been so devastated over what he had done that he had been sending her flowers.

Purple Hyacinth's to be exact.

At Tsuna's confused expression, Nana explained that the purple Hyacinth meant "I'm sorry, Please forgive me and Sorrow", the flower itself was very beautiful in Tsuna's eyes, and it was nice to have received flowers from someone even though they were a means to ask for forgiveness.

Then again, no one had ever apologized to her before so that in itself was a nice change.

But what Tsuna hadn't expected, was that she had had more than one visitor during her time in the coma.

* * *

The very next day, she had been reading one of the books her mother had brought her when someone knocked on her open door.

"Yo, Sawada."

That was probably one of the voices Tsuna had never expected would call out to her.

Tearing her eyes away from the pages of her book, she stared wide-eyed at the fifteen year old in front of her.

Actually... she had been in a coma till the start of May and since his birthday was in late April... he was now sixteen.

"Yamamoto-san?" she asked uncertainly, carefully putting her bookmark on her page and closing it, placing it on the table next to her bed as the athlete stalked into the room.

There was something tucked in under his arm...

"Your mom called, said you woke up." he explained, sitting down on the visitors chair next to her as if he had done so a thousand times before.

Of course, this statement confused Tsuna.

Why would her mother call Yamamoto Takeshi, one of the schools most popular boys?

"She did?" she asked tentatively, anxiously rubbing her hands together.

"Yup." the athlete answered with a bright smile, making himself comfortable where he was sitting. "So how are you feeling?"

Again, Tsuna felt herself thrown out of the loop.

No one of her classmates had ever bothered to ask her about her well being before, it made her rubb her hands even harder. The pain helped her confirm that she really was awake and this wasn't some kind of morphine induced dream.

Not that she was in need of any morphine.

The pain was almost non-existent. The doctors just wanted to keep her in the building until the wound healed completely since her mother had explained to them that her daughter had a very poor sense of balance, and thus there was a large risk that the wound would re-open soon after she got back to her house.

Thinking back at the question he had asked her, she straightened herself in the bed.

"Honestly..." she muttered, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "Better than I have in years."

This earned her a look of confusion.

"I don't follow."

Pulling her legs up to her chest, Tsuna allowed her head to rest on top of her knees, successfully folding herself in three as she let her eyes rest on the athlete.

He somehow looked so much different than he did surrounded by their classmates.

She decided to answer his question as honestly as she could.

"My body feels more like mine now."

As she expected, Yamamoto looked even more confused.

"And it didn't before?"

Slowly, she shook her head, letting her legs slide away a bit from her chest.

"No..."

The two of them sat in silence for a longer period of time, not looking at one another as they thought over the situation in their minds.

Who would have thought either of them would be there?

This sparked a question inside Tsuna's head.

Awkwardly turning towards her classmate, she cleared her throat, succeeding in catching his attention.

"May I ask you something, Yamamoto-san?" she asked timidly.

Seeing her so uncomfortable brought a reassuring smile to Yamamoto's mouth.

"Shoot." it wasn't until just after he had said it that he realized just how insensitive that word probably was to her.

The word brought a rather uncomfortable look to the young man's face. He scratched the back of his head as he looked at her apologetically.

She shook her head, swallowing heard as she gathered up the courage to actually ask the question, worried that she would insult him.

"Why are you here?"

It may have sounded slightly as if she was complaining but they both knew that it was a valid question. Up until now, Yamamoto had been mainly indifferent to her existence ever since they were put into the same class during their first year of middle-school.

Huh... she hadn't really thought of it before but the two of them have shared the exact same class since middle-school, every year and even now that they entered high-school, they were once again put into the same class.

Sighing heavily, Yamamoto appeared to be reaching for Tsuna's hand, only he stopped himself before his fingertips had the chance to brush against the skin.

"Sawada..." one of his hands brushed through his ruffled black locks, ruffling it up even more. "I think it's impossible for someone to have someone else's blood on the hands without feeling the need to be close to the person." then he though over his words again. "Unless... you were the cause of the blood in the first place, then I have no idea what you would feel."

Realization dawned in Tsuna's light brown eyes, a stark contrast to his pondering dark brown ones.

"You mean..." she swallowed, trying to force her words out. "You mean that... you were the one who..."

"I was the one who pressed down on your wound until the paramedics arrived, yes." Yamamoto admitted, once again locking his eyes with hers.

They sat there, staring at one another for a longer period of time.

At that moment, Tsuna felt a strange connection to the athlete. It wasn't a romantic connection in the least, but she felt like her life was somehow connected to his.

She didn't know weather that connection had been there all the time and she just didn't know, or if it had come to being the moment he had put his hands on her bleeding stomach, but she knew, she just knew, at the back of her mind, that she was connected to this young man in a way she had yet to figure out.

"Yamamoto-san..." she muttered, forcing the both of them out of their thoughts. "You saved my life."

This earned her a light laugh and another scratch behind his head from Yamamoto.

"I guess I kind of did, huh..."

The remained there, talking about whatever Yamamoto could think about.

The main subject was how school had been since she was about. And, according to Yamamoto, their whole class had gotten rightfully punished for everything they had done to her and most of them had loudly declared that they would never bully anyone in their lives again. But of course, both she and Yamamoto knew that that declaration wouldn't hold once their lives fell back the way they were before and they had to take their frustrations out on something.

However, Tsuna found herself not dreading returning to school.

Something told her that her life would be a lot easier to live once she was finally released from the white-painted walls that were constantly trying to blind her with how bright they were in the sunlight. In fact, she was kind of looking forward to going back there after so many days locked up in there.

They had been talking for a few minutes when Tsuna's eyes fell on something that had completely skipped her attention.

The plastic bag that had been tucked in under Yamamoto's arm when he had stepped into the room. It was now leaning against one of the legs of the chair, just waiting for someone to notice it again.

"What's that?" Tsuna found herself asking.

It had gotten easier to talk to him, considering she had been unable to get out a word to anyone in her class before, and now here she was, conversing with one of the school's most popular people as if it was the most natural things in the world.

Glancing down, Yamamoto's eyes widened.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" he exclaimed, leaning down to fish up the bag with expert swiftness.

Letting the bag rest on his lap, he reached into if.

"I found these among your things in school." he looked up at her apologetically, obviously apologizing for going through her things but she didn't hold it against him. Someone had to take care of her things when she was out after all. Finally, he cleared his throat. "I figured you might want to have it until you can get out of this place."

Out of the bag, he fished out her thick, half-filled sketch-book that she had kept in her desk, allowing with the casket of artist pencils she had brought with her that day.

To be honest, she was quite surprised to see those two objects again.

Taking the objects from the athletes hands, she stroke her hand over the sketch-book's cover. She stared at it in disbelief at the good condition it was in.

She had always been worried about keeping her things in school, in case one of her bullies decided to go through her desk and ruin her things. So having them in front of her, looking like she hadn't been away at all, was a great relief to her.

Looking back at Yamamoto, she gave him her biggest, most genuine smile she had ever given anyone for years.

"Thank you."

Slightly taken aback at the sudden smile, Yamamoto had to shake his head before smiling back at her.

"Don't mention it."

Suddenly, a loud beeping rang through the air, resonating from Yamamoto's wrist watch.

Looking down at the annoying noise-maker, Yamamoto sighed in frustration as he turned off the blearing noise.

He grabbed his bag as he got up from the chair, looking down at Tsuna looking up at him with questioning look in her light brown eyes.

"I got to go." he said, sounding somewhat regretful. "Baseball practice starts in about half an hour so-"

"I get it." Tsuna cut him off, her hand raised with the palm facing him.

She knew how much Baseball meant to him and she didn't want to be the thing that stood between him and doing the thing he loved.

He smiled gratefully at her as he walked away.

Only he paused in the doorway.

"By the way, Sawada."

Looking up from the sketchbook, she was met with the signature smile that everyone has associated with the athlete.

"You're really good at that." with that said, nodding towards the sketch-book. The athlete then gave her a wave, and disappeared out the door, leaving the girl alone to stroke her hand over her book.

And so began her acquaintanceship with Yamamoto Takeshi. It would soon be followed with Kurokawa Hana whom visited her a few hours later with the homework she had missed during her time in the come, even helping her finish it in the shortest time possible. And the next day, she would get to know Sasagawa Kyoko who came over with some food that hadn't been prepared in the hospital kitchens.

Who would have thought that Tsuna would have to get shot in the stomach before she had the chance to actually start living?

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter was actually finished the day after I finished the first one...**

 **Which was actually TWO days before I even uploaded it...**

 **I can't help but to feel slightly evil but I did it for one reason and one reason alone.**

 **To ensure that you beautiful humans will receive regular, scheduled updates consisting of one chapter every week without fail for at least a couple of months from this day forward.**

 **The next chapter WILL be up by Friday and the chapters that follows will be up by the Friday's that follows.**

 **In case I even slip out of my creative phase, or momentarily loose interest in what I'm writing, I will still have chapters ready for your enjoyment that you have yet to see once a week until I start to actively write again.**

 **I will make sure to inform you if I won't be able to give you a weekly chapter anymore.**

 **I hope that makes up for it.**

 **Please tell me what you think and the next chapter WILL be up next week, that is a solid promise, unless my computer crashes of course.**

 **Laters.**


	2. Target 2

**A/N: I thank all the beautiful humans who reviewed and told me what you thoughts of my twists and changes.**

 **I reward you with this (not so) long awaited uppdate.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 2:**

 **The fire burning inside**

A tall, dark man walked down the roads of Italy, his fedora shadowing his eyes but a content smirk was playing on his lips.

He was a very handsome man, dressed in a black suit with a matching black fedora perched on his head. His hands rested inside his pockets as he strode straight into the closest pub, not even bothering to spare a glance at the figure following him.

Throwing up the doors to the pub, all activity inside stopped as they all turned to stare at him.

Two suited men smirked at the sight of him.

"Reborn." one of the men greeted, raising his shot glass towards the man. "Got yourself a new job?"

"Ah." the man confirmed with a sharp nod, his voice booming over the silence as he confidently took a few more steps into the building.

"Where is it now?" the other man asked, glancing at Reborn from the corner of his eye. "Rome? Venice?"

"Japan." Reborn answered casually, never eve taking his hands out from his pockets.

"Japan!" the two men immediately reacted, looks of shock plastered over their faces.

"That old man finally managed to make the lion give in?"

Reborn allowed himself to chuckle lightly at their reactions.

"This is going to be a long trip." he mused.

At that moment, the man that had followed Reborn decided to finally step out of the shadows, a knife raised high above his head.

Giving off a cry in attack, he prepared to stab the man, but he didn't even get the chance.

The very next second, the knife was knocked out of his hand as the bones in his wrist snapped, the second that followed he was lying on the floor, twitching in pain, clutching at his broken wrist as he stared up at Reborn, eyes full of fear.

All Reborn did, was smirk.

Oh, he was going to have fun when in Japan.

* * *

A week and a half after she woke up in that hospital bed, Tsuna was finally allowed to return home with her mother.

Her mother had informed her that the two bookshelves she had ordered before she got shot had arrived while she was out, so they were there, waiting for her in her bedroom for her to put the together and fill them with what still lay scattered over her floor.

The dresser she had also ordered had yet to arrive but her Mom believed that it wouldn't take long before that too arrived.

Standing in front of her bedroom door, Tsuna felt somewhat uncomfortable, wondering weather or not she should actually open the door and face the mess she knew would meet her on the other side.

After having been locked up in the all-too-clean hospital for so long, the mess that she was so used to before would most likely feel so much worse.

Finally, she shook her head, banishing her foreboding notions and decided to get it over with.

With that though, she put her hand on the door-handle and practically shoved it open.

Just like she had expected, the mess felt immense.

The piles of papers and books suddenly felt so much larger than how they had felt the last time she had seen them.

However...

She turned her head towards the two large boxes that held her new bookshelves.

That little factor would son be dealt with.

Taking in a deep breath, she rolled up the sleeves of her white cardigan and practically attacked the boxes, only sparing a thought to fetch a pair of scissors from on top of her desk (the drawers were full of underwear, socks and things that should go into the dresser she still didn't have) before she ripped open the cardboard to reach the golden-brown lacquered wood that made up the bookshelves she was going to put together.

Now, Tsunako was by no means an unintelligent young woman. She understood and followed all the lectures at school perfectly fine, and so, she was able to understand and follow the instructions for the shelves perfectly fine as well.

It was, after all, not the first piece of furniture she had to put together herself, with her father not being around and all.

Within an hour, both of the shelves had been put together, as well as screwed onto their own sides of the corner to the right of her bedroom door.

Stepping back, Tsuna allowed herself to feel proud over her work. Then she looked down at her feet and reminded herself that her hard work had only just begun.

* * *

At 06:45pm, Nana knocked on her daughters bedroom door with a tray of juice and sandwiches resting on her left forearm. She didn't wait for an invitation and just walked in.

What met her eyes, was something she had never expected to see in her daughter's bedroom.

Tsuna was standing in front of her shelves, carefully placing what appeared to be the last stack of books into the shelf on the same wall as the door. She didn't have a particular order for the books but Nana suspected her daughter wasn't thinking about any specific order at the moment, she just wanted the books off the floor.

And the difference was quite startling.

All the discarded papers had either been thrown away for being useless or put into binders and folders now stacked on the shelf her daughter was not facing together with all the notebooks, diaries and sketch-books. Nana could spot the antique porcelain dolls Tsuna had received for her eight, ninth and tenth birthdays sitting on top of the shelf. There were seven dolls in total, in varying sizes and design, though they were all equally beautiful.

Her daughter had taken great care of them through the years.

Looking at those dolls, Nana couldn't help but to sweep her eyes over the bedroom, her eyes locking on the white plush bunny with the orange ribbon tied around it's neck. Tsuna has had that thing since Nana had made it for her for her sixth birthday.

Next to the bunny (Whom Nana distinctly remembered had been named Shiro) on the bedside table, stood the antique music-box that basically was basically just a porcelain spinning ballet dancer (not an actual box) that was winded up with the strange, golden, crest-like key necklace that Tsuna always, always wore around her neck.

Her eyes continued, this time freezing on the antique tea-set that was actually real china that Iemitsu had bought for Tsuna-chan when she had reached that age where girl's liked to have tea-parties, the set was stationed right next to a beautiful, antique, silver decorated trinket box with Tsuna's name engraved on the lid, in which Nana knew Tsuna kept something special (it was just that Tsuna refused to show that object to anyone, not even her mother).

Continuing with her sweep, her eyes well on the large mahogany jewelry box that had been temporarily stationed on top of the coffee-table at the center of the room, it's multiple compartments folded out, ready to be filled with the pieces of jewelry still scattered all over the room.

These were all gifts from Iemitsu, apology gifts for not being around really.

He used to mostly send her toys. Beautiful, antique toys, until she entered her teen years at which point he began to send her clothing, jewelry, make-up, shoes, accessories. Everything a teenage girl could ever wish for.

Most of the toys were now packed away in the attic, like that beautiful, large antique Victorian doll-house and that antique rocking-horse shaped like a beautiful white mere. It was a shame that they had to be packed away but Tsuna felt that they would take too much place (even though Nana could see that she hadn't wanted to pack away those two particular objects) and so, they were gathering dust at the moment.

Nana couldn't help but to smile at her daughters bedroom, even though accessories, make-up, shoes and clothing were still scattered over the floor (she really should get her her own laundry-basket). The room screamed teenager by the TV and laptop, not to mention the mirror practically covered by discarded garments, but the things she kept for decoration showed that she had kept a certain amount of innocence from her childhood years.

Not only the toys showed off her innocence.

Her daughter really had a fondness for the light, soft colors. White, light blue, light pink, light green and light yellow. Even though her favorite color would forever remain orange, she had told Nana that too much orange for an extended period of time would only make her hate the color, and thus, her bedroom was decorated with the softer colors, the calmer colors.

She was an artistic child after all.

"I like what you've done with the place." Nana remarked as she stepped over the hair-brush her daughter had long-since forgotten even existed, in order to reach the coffee-table.

Tsuna, after having putt the final book on the shelf, and thus filling the two shelves completely, finally allowed her aching arms to fall to her sides.

She turned towards her mother as she made to sit down on the chest at the foot of her bed (it was filled with sheets and covers for the bed so it was useless for any other storage).

"Now all that's missing is the dresser." the teenager breathed, brushing her tingling hands off on her jeans. They had been tingling ever since she began putting the shelves together, like the tingling you get when the blood returns to your limbs only... hotter (temperature wise).

"You going to gather up the jewelry now?" Nana asked, nodding towards the gaping jewelry-box.

Tsuna had received that thing for her fifteenth birthday, only by that time her jewelry was already scattered all over her room and she had just, never bothered looking for them through the mess.

Though, now, searching for the glimmering pieces of metal and fake gemstones would be much easier. In fact, she could already spot about twenty of them.

"That's the plan." Tsuna replied with what could only be described as a sigh of surrender.

From one task that required a lot of stretching upwards, she would directly move on to a task that required a lot of bending down.

Who knew cleaning could be such a workout?

Nana, whom had apparently noticed her daughter's exhausted expression, reached over to the tray and picked up the glass of pear juice. Standing up, she handed the glass to the teen.

"How about a little break first?" she asked gently with a smile. "Wouldn't want you ending up back at the hospital on your first day back home now would we?"

Tsuna smiled gratefully at her mother, taking the cup from her womans hands.

The cold liquid had chilled the glass, cooling down her tingling fingers.

Tsuna couldn't help the relieved sigh escaping her lips at the feel of the cold.

Wait... was that... sizzling?

Staring down at her hand, Tsuna thought, for a split second, that she saw a light mist streaming up from where her fingers touched the glass, but it was gone after she blinked.

Along with the tingling.

"Is something wrong?" Nana asked, successfully snapping her daughter out of her thoughts.

Looking up her mother, Tsuna hesitated before slowly shaking her head.

"No." she answered, looking back at the glass. "Nothing at all." she proved the point by bringing the glass up to her lips.

It was a little more room temperature than the coolness of the glass had lead her to believe, but it still worked wonders on her over-worked body.

The sweet taste of the juice brought a smile to her mouth. That particular type of juice has always had that power, ever since she was a baby and it was the first thing she had tasted that wasn't breast-milk (at least, according to Nana).

Seeing Tsuna's reaction, Nana reached out her hand to stroke her daughter over her terribly messy hair. It was such a shame that the girl never took the time to take care of it. Nana could remember when she had been the one to take care of the girl's hair, god how beautiful it had been then, shining in the sunlight as if it had been spun out of gold.

"You should really do something about this." Nana murmured, letting her fingers pinch the tips of Tsuna's hair, stroking them between her fingers.

This earned Nana an eye-roll.

Brushing off her mothers hand, Tsuna took another sip from her glass.

"Not now." she groaned. "Too much to do."

Nana sighed heavily, putting her hands on her hips.

"Alright." she gave. "But after you're done with the jewelry, I want you to take a long shower young lady." she almost raised her finger for empathies.

"Alright." was the only reply she got.

Tsuna put her glass down. Standing up, she began to push her mother out of her room.

"Good bye now."

The woman stopped herself in the doorway by grabbing hold of the frames, turning her head around to look at her daughter from the corner of her eye.

"And don't forget to brush your hair."

"I know." Tsuna groaned, pushing at her mothers back with a bit more force. "I'm not a child anymore, remember?"

"I know you're not honey, but-" she didn't get to finish her sentence as the last shove from Tsuna caused her to loose her grip on the door-frames and she tumbled into the hallway, turning around just in time to see her daughter shut the door behind her. "You're still my daughter." Nana finished to the silence of the hallway.

Really, their house was way to big for just the two of them.

Maybe she should put a room out for rent?

On the other side of the door, Tsuna leaned her back against the door, looking out over what remained of the mess.

"Alright floor." she muttered, brushing her filthy bangs from her face, a fire burning behind her light brown eyes. The tingling feeling in her hands returned. "It's time to show yourself again."

* * *

The week that followed her return home from the hospital, Tsuna pulled on her school uniform and dragged herself out of her room.

She would start going to school again, and to say that she felt nervous would be an understatement seeing as what happened the last time she went there. She just hoped to everything holy that Hibari Kyoya had put up a stronger search for any type of weapon when she was gone.

Sure enough, when she got through the gates of the school, she was met with one of the more authoritative black-clad members of the disciplinary committee Kusakabe Tetsuya.

Apparently, he recognized her.

"We need to check your bag for weapons." nodding towards the bag hanging over her shoulders, he had a kind look in his eyes. Almost as if he was feeling sorry for having to ask her such a question to her.

He held out his hand towards her.

"If you please."

Kusakabe Tetsuya had been raised into a well-bread family. He was one of the few people in the school that showed respect to everyone in the building, apart for those who break the rules of course. He was one of the few people that had stood up for her when he saw her getting bullied, and she was grateful to him for that.

He would become a good man one day.

Smiling gently, Tsuna allowed her bag to slide down her arm to her hand, closing her fingers around the straps, she held the bag up towards the older student.

Giving the bag a quick look-through, the disciplinary committee member handed the bag back.

"Sorry for the inconvenience." he offered.

Brushing her hair behind her ear as he put the bag back on her shoulder, she shook her head slightly.

In school, Tsuna always made an effort to appear as small as possible, to try and direct the attention away from her (not that it worked), but now, she was slowly straightening out her shoulders to look the elder student right in the eye (something that was very rare).

"No inconvenience." she assured him. "I may be the only ones who appreciates this."

Kusakabe gave her a look of understanding, a light nod before he jerked his head to the side, indicating that she should get a move on.

And she did.

* * *

Walking through the hallways of the school, Tsuna unconsciously made herself look even smaller than she had ever done before.

Why?

Because everyone, _everyone_ were staring at her. Whispering.

" _Hey, is that Dame-Tsuna?"_

" _Didn't she get shot?"_

" _I thought they said she died."_

Closing off her ears to the whispers, Tsuna hurried over to her classroom, opening the door as quietly as she could, hoping that she wouldn't attract too much attention.

When was the last time her hopes came true?

The second she put one foot into the classroom, all eyes were on her.

She could feel herself freezing up, her fingers clutching at the straps of her bag so tight her nails were digging into the palms of her hands.

They were studying her. Their eyes moving all over her body, looking for something that Tsuna didn't feel like she wanted to know what it was.

Unconsciously, she took a step back.

She hadn't expected that she would back right into something hard, yet soft and warm at the same time. Something that put something feeling very similar to hands on her shoulders to keep her from moving from where she was standing.

Turning her head around, she found herself staring up at Yamamoto Takeshi's dark brown eyes.

He smiled widely down at her.

"Good to see you back Sawada."

The effect those words had on her... the feeling of someone actually being glad that she was there was kind of overwhelming. Her heart ached a little and she was forced to look away from the athlete because of it.

Taking the situation into his own hands, Yamamoto began pushing Tsuna into the classroom, through the rows of desks before he stopped in front of hers. There, he turned her around towards him and pushed her down into her chair.

"There." he said with a pleased look on his face. "Now the balance has been restored."

Then, with a pat on her shoulder, he turned toward his own desk, sat down, and the previous moment was forgotten.

Feeling a bit miffed, Tsuna shook her head before she let her bag slide down her arm for the second time that day, letting the thing rest on her lap as she started digging through it's content for her pencil-case and notebook.

There was still fifteen minutes until class started, so she wanted to do something doodling during that time.

She had just started to sketch on a head when a shadow fell over her page.

Looking up, she was met by the gaze of Takahashi.

Immediately, unpleasant memories flashed inside her head so violently that it forced her to drop her pencil and press her palm against her forehead in an attempt to calm herself down.

"Tsuna..." Takahashi's voice sounded slightly pleading. "I'm so sorry."

Looking up at the boy again, Tsuna found it rather uncomfortable that he had such a guilty look on his face.

"I know." she muttered, fiddling with her fingers.

She didn't want to look at him.

"I saw the flowers."

This seemed to make Takahashi feel better, so he walked away without saying another thing. But she found herself not caring. She actually felt relieved that she didn't have to talk to him anymore, the sound of the gun still rang through her head whenever she thought of his face.

Picking up her pen again, she continued sketching until their teacher walked through the door.

* * *

Coming back to school had been a lot easier than Tsuna had thought it would be. Everyone were pretty much indifferent about her return and no one had bothered her for two weeks now, letting her go about her days on her.

She still talked to those three every now and then, but they weren't friends. More like, acquaintances. Acquaintances that felt it strangely easy to talk to one another sure, but they weren't exactly friends either as they never met up outside of school.

During these two weeks, Tsuna has noticed a few things different about herself.

Usually, during P.E. She couldn't run for ten seconds without falling flat on her face.

But now...

Just last week, they were doing some high-jumping from a springboard. Something that she usually couldn't get over three levels.

Now...

When it was her turn, she had heard everyone snicker, expecting her to fail like she had done so much before. At that moment, she decided that she would show them what twelve years ballet lessons resulted in no matter what.

When she took off running, that was when she felt that tingling sensation again, only it was stronger than it had been when she was cleaning. The tingling returned to her fingers but the most surprising thing was, she felt lighter, like she had been carrying weights the whole day and suddenly, they simply fell off in the middle of her sprint.

She had practically flown, from the springboard she had gone so high up in the air that she had to flip in order to land right on the other side.

The silence had been deafening.

Even the coach had been shocked speechless at what she had just done, but of coarse, no one was more shocked than she was.

She had never jumped that high before, and her landing had been flawless. During her ballet classes, her landings had always been the one thing she had most trouble with as it required having a sense of balance more than standing on your tip-toes, and now... she didn't know what to think.

Had her sense of balance somehow returned to her after she was shot?

Then there was the test they took (who's results were returned to them yesterday), a test that Tsuna had fully expected to fail. However, when the paper was laid down in front of her, she found herself able to think clearly enough for her to be able to answer some of the question, through the constant tingling of her hands of course (seriously, what was up with that?) only the heat from the tingling was worse than before, it made her feel slightly feverish.

She had just barely passed.

Just that incident during P.E. This had shocked everyone in class, but unlike P.E. The one most shocked had been Nezu Dohachiro, their teacher whom had basically made it his personal mission to make Tsuna's life at school a living hell. Out of all the bullies in the school, he had always been the worst one, parading her failed scores around for everyone to see. Now, he didn't have anything he could parade around.

She had almost laughed at him and the face he had pulled when he realized that she had passed, barely, but she had still passed.

These incidences made everyone in her class realize that the Dame-Tsuna they had seen being taken away by the paramedics and the Dame-Tsuna sitting in the classroom with them now, were two completely different people. People outside of the class still considered her as Dame-Tsuna, but her classmates now only called her that because they simply couldn't think of anything else to call her. Most of them only knew her as that.

Just a few days ago, they discovered something that may have applied to her before she got shot and they just never noticed it, just like no one ever seemed to notice anything.

No one noticed it until Tsuna pointed out after class that Nezu-sensei had had a large coffee stain on the sleeve of his blazer. No one noticed until Tsuna pointed it out that one of their female classmates had cut her hair by a few inches at the tips but almost a foot for her bangs (she had really, really long hair), it was so obvious after she told the girl she liked how it looked (apparently, the girl was been very worried about how everyone would react).

They had started to wonder, not really knowing if their suspicions were correct or not, until one of the boys decided that he was going to get to the bottom of it once and for all.

During lunch and most of the class were having lunch in the classroom because it was raining outside, he sat down in front of Tsuna's desk with three cups and a marble, asking her to keep her eyes on the cup of which the marble was under.

The first one had been easy, but with every turn his moves became faster and faster until no-one was able to keep track of them without getting a headache.

Tsuna had twelve goes at it, and every time, she guessed right.

Once Tsuna finally asked him to stop as her eyes were starting to hurt, everyone in class were already sharing glances with one another.

So there was something she was a natural at after all.

Yamamoto had almost bounced over to her, wrapped an arm around her neck from behind, forcing her to turn towards him.

"Ne, Sawada." he said, staring straight into her eyes. "You're quite observant, aren't you?"

She had shrugged at this, gently removing the athlete's arm from her shoulders.

"I'm an artist Yamamoto-san, it kind of goes without saying."

What shocked everyone at this wasn't that she had claimed to actually be good at something, but that Yamamoto wasn't surprised.

"Right." he had agreed, nodding in understanding.

From that moment on, everyone in class had made an obvious effort to try and see just what Tsuna keeps doodling in between classes, and sometimes even during them (especially English class), and they had all been quite blown away at what they had seen.

Who would have thought that Dame-Tsuna could draw?

And so, the days continued, going much, much more smoothly than Tsuna could have ever hoped.

She should have known something was going to happen sooner or later...

* * *

She had been back in school for three weeks now and so far it had been pretty, uneventful, to say the least.

People from other years and classes had tried to bully her at different times over the weeks but they had always been pushed away by those who now believed that she didn't deserve to be bullied, mainly speaking, her class.

She blamed this for being the cause of her letting her guard down that afternoon.

She had been walking home from school that day, stopping for a few seconds in front of a vending machine, ruffling through her bag to see if she had any loose change somewhere in there.

She had been having a strange feeling of dread ever since she had stepped out of the school gates, but she hadn't payed any attention to it.

God she wished she had done that now.

As her attention had been focused on the insides of her bag, and her ears had been filled with the sounds of her own things being shoved around inside of it, she never noticed the shadow, or the sound of footsteps approaching her from behind.

That is, not until one arm had wrapped itself around her upper-arms and the hand attached to the other arm slammed over her mouth.

She dropped her bag, sending her belonging scattering over the pavement.

She tried, she really tried to get out of the arms but every time she tried the person only tightened his grip.

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

"Well, well, well."

That voice, she knew that voice.

"What do we have here?"

Mochida Kensuke, the seventeen year old in the year above her stepped into her line of sigh, his hands in his pockets and a predatory look in his eyes. The way he let his eyes wander over her body sent unpleasant shivers sunning over every inch of her skin.

It didn't help that he licked his lips.

"If it isn't the school looser."

Two pairs of laugher follower that comment.

Really? It wasn't even that funny.

Mochida stepped up to her, looking right into her face.

His eyes looked even more frightening up close.

He brought up his hand and she could feel his fingertips brushing over the skin of her throat.

She tried to move her head away but the man holding her was too strong.

"You know what we're going to do to you Dame-Tsuna?" he asked, bringing his face in closer to the side of her head. She could feel his breath against the shell of her ear. "We're gonna have some fun with you, is that alright?"

She could feel tears burning behind her eyes as she once again attempted to get out of the man's arms, she tried kicking, clawing, even biting into the hand but it was like the man apparently had no sense of touch for absolutely nothing worked on him.

Mochida just laughed at her reaction, followed by the laughter by the other two.

One was from the guy holding her, and the other came from someone apparently standing behind both her and the man.

She didn't like not seeing all the faces laughing.

With a jerk of Mochida's head, the man holding Tsuna began to drag her off, leaving her bag of things scattered on the ground.

All she could hope was that someone would find them, and somehow through them... find her.

With every passing second that the man dragged her, her fear grew stronger. Not only that, but also that familiar tingling sensation in her hands.

The tingling had become so frequent nowadays that she barely even registered it. But now, the tingling grew into something similar to a major itching sensation that would have probably driven her mad had her mind not been too occupied panicking.

She needed to get away from these men, but how?

There was an abandoned warehouse not too far away from where they had caught her, it was there they were dragging her how. Through the rusted doors and into a large, dust-covered hall filled with rotten grates and spiderwebs so thick they looked like pieces of dusty white cloths hanging from the ceilings.

There, the man holding her shoved her violently down to the floor. As she landed, the dust covering the ground flew up all around her, lying over her like a second skin and sending her into a coughing fitt that felt as if she was about to cough up her lungs.

Turning back towards them, Tsuna got a better look at the three men.

Mochida she recognized, but the other two... not so much.

The one who had grabbed her was tall, really tall, with visible muscles bulging under his school uniform. The other one was more Mochida's stature, but he too had a slightly more muscular frame than Mochida did.

So he was the brains and the other two were the muscles?

She realized with overwhelming dread that she would never be able to outrun these men should she ever be able to get out of their grips.

The fear in her stomach only grew stronger.

Was it just her, or was the temperature in the building rising?

Mochida stepped up to her, crouching down to stare at her face again.

"Do you have any idea how surprised I was Dame-Tsuna?" he reached out his hand closing it around her tie and lifted it from underneath her vest. "The girl we had been following since she walked out the school gates." he loosened the knot. "The girl who had looked so hot from behind, turned out to be the school looser." with a flourish, he removed the tie from around her neck and chucked it to the side.

Sweat started to drip down Tsuna's brow.

Seriously, was the the only one feeling the heat? It was like something was burning in there.

Mochida motioned for the men behind him to come forward.

Both of them grabbed hold of one of her arms, yanking it up from under her and forcing her back down to the dusty ground, pinning down her arms at either side of her head.

She tried to kick but Mochida had already straddled her at her hips, looking down at her with the scariest smirk she had ever seen playing on his lips.

Seriously, how was it that the three of them didn't feel that heat?

"We're going to have some fun." Mochida mused, reaching out to rip open her vest, sending the buttons flying all over the place. "Of course, you probably won't have as much fun as us." with that said, he repeated the exact same action with her blouse.

A scream of terror wrenched itself out of Tsuna's throat.

"Scream all you like." Mochida chuckled, leaning down over her. "No one is going to hear you."

Leaning down even more, Mochida pressed his mouth against her now exposed neck.

"No." Tsuna wined, trying to wiggle herself out of their hold.

Mochida's hand found its way to her exposed torso, stroking her skin.

"No." Tsuna wined a little louder, feeling absolutely disgusted at the feel of his hand.

Mochida just chuckled, his other hand moving down to her thigh, slowly wandering up to the hem of her skirt.

The heat was absolutely stifling now, like she was sitting inside of an oven.

Mochida's hand had almost reached her panties when everything burst.

"NO!"

Fire.

Bright orange flames lit up from her clenched fists, so bright in fact that it was impossible for the three men not to notice them, and when they did, they immediately yanked themselves away from her. Staring at her in absolute horror as she brought her hands towards her, staring at them as the fires only grew bigger and bigger.

Slowly, the flames started spreading over the rest of her hands, climbing down her wrist, only growing more and more bright, more fierce. And yet, she couldn't feel any heat.

This was even more frightening than what the men had been about to do.

Speaking of the men, they were currently running the hell away from there, leaving her sitting there surrounded by wooden grates.

In a panic, Tsuna tried to stand up, only when she did she fell over, catching herself on one of the grates.

The fire started instantly.

It started with just the one grate burning but it quickly spread to the rest of them, surrounding her in the bright orange fire. She spun around, watching at the fire started eating away at the walls of the warehouse, moving up towards the ceiling, the rafters, the abandoned ropes.

Everything, was ablaze.

She started screaming at the top of her lungs, frantically spinning around in the chaos.

The fires were almost covering her whole arms now.

Trying to get away from the fire, Tsuna found herself on the floor again, her back pressed up against a concrete wall as she stared out of the fires raging around her. Her screams had long since turned hoarse.

This was her fault. She had started this.

Tears started streaming down her face but before they could drip down her cheek, they evaporated in the heat that radiated around her.

What was she going to do?

Just then, she saw something in the flames.

A shadow.

A man.

A tall, lean man dressed in an expensive-looking black suit with a matching black fedora perched on his head. She couldn't see his face, the flames were too strong for that but she did notice tufts of black hair sticking out from under the hat.

What was so remarkable about this man was that he was standing right in the middle of the fire, and it didn't seem to phase him. In fact, it didn't even leach itself onto his suit.

For a moment, he just stood there, staring at her. Then he raised one of his legs and walked right up to her, acting as if the fire was just people on the sidewalk you pass by trying to get to your jobb or school.

Tsuna found herself trying to press herself further into the concrete wall as the man crouched down in front of her, looking her right in the eyes with his own emotionless onyx ones.

Suddenly, the man's hands shot out and grabbed onto her wrists.

Her eyes shot up in panic.

"No!" she screamed, trying to yank her hands out of his grip, but it was like trying to yank her hands out of solid rock. "Don't touch me!"

She stopped trashing when the man yanked on her, forcing her to look in his eyes again.

"Calm yourself down." he ordered, his voice deep, booming over the sound of the raging fire around them. "Panicking won't solve anything."

Tsuna's eyes fell on where the man was holding her. Only, in stead of seeing his hands turning black from the flames, it was like the fire was dancing around his skin, not quite daring to touch him, like something bad would happen if they did.

"Everything is going to be fine." the man's calm tone forced her to look up at him again. "But only if you calm yourself down."

It was like the man's calm demeanor rubber off on her.

Her heartbeat decreased, her breathing evened out.

Closing her eyes, she forced herself to calm down the rest of the way and as she did, the itching that had been covering her entire body from the moment her hands caught fire disappeared, replaced by that light tingling before that too disappeared.

She was calm.

"Open your eyes." the man ordered, and she obeyed.

The fire was gone.

Well, the fire on her arms as gone, the fire around them was still very much alive, still eating away at the building but Tsuna simply couldn't find it in her to care.

Her attention was locked on her flame-free limbs.

The hands clutching at her wrists slowly loosened before they dropped entirely.

Tsuna remained sitting, staring down at the palms of her hands with her tears drying on her cheeks.

How in the world...?

The sound of the ruffling of fabric brought her out of her shock.

Looking up, she saw the man holding out his blazer towards her.

This got him a confused look.

"Put it on." he said, not seeming to move an inch, not even a twitch. "You can't go home in the state you're in."

The state she was in?

Looking down at herself, Tsuna almost screamed, but she remembered what that had done to her the last time and forced herself to keep it in.

She had already felt the beginnings of the tingling and she really, really didn't want a repeated performance of what just happened.

Her clothes were ruined.

They weren't just singed, they were burnt. Some parts of her blouse wasn't even holding together around her arms. And yet. As she checked over the rest of her body, her skin, her hair, they were perfectly fine, it wasn't even covered in ash.

She looked like someone whom had put on the costume of a burnt victim and was waiting for someone to apply the make-up to finish the illusion.

If Tsuna's mind was boggling before, then she must have certainly gone crazy now.

Reaching out her hands to grab the offered jacket, she looked up at the man and his now hidden eyes.

"How is this possible?" she held the jacket in front of her body like the once piece of protection she could ever hope to get from him.

"I can't answer that right now." the man said, looking through the raging flames as if searching for something.

She really didn't want to hear that.

"Hurry up." he said, still not looking at her. "The firefighters will be arriving at any moment and we need to be out of here before they do."

She could understand why.

How could they ever explain her state?

Slowly, she clanged on the over-sized jacket, buttoning it up to hide the most of her body before she, gratefully, took the hand the man had held out to her, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

With his hand at her shoulder-blades, he lead her through the flames and out the burning building before he steered her back down the road Mochida and his gang had dragged her through to get to the warehouse.

Once again standing next to the vending machine, Tsuna stared as the man gathered up her still scattered things (to think that no one had passed through that passage during the time it took for the warehouse to catch fire) in a matter of seconds before throwing the bag over his shoulder. His hand returned to her shoulder-blades and he kept guiding her, only this time, the road would lead her to possibly the safest place in the world for her.

Her home.

Finally, they were standing outside of the gates to her house.

The man removed his hand from Tsuna's shoulder-blades making her turn towards him. As she did he held out her bag towards her.

"I need to go now." he said, looking at her as she took the bag from his hands.

"But what if-"

"You will see me again." the man cut her off, shoving his hands into his pockets. "We can't have a Cour DiLeone running around without knowing how to control her abilities."

"A what?" Tsuna asked with a frown.

"Not now." the man said, backing away from her. "You keep that jacket till I return, I have something I need to take care of first." she could practically hear the smirk on his voice. "Chao." and with a tilt of his fedora, the man turned around and walked away, leaving her staring after him.

Just what the hell was her life panning out too?

* * *

 **A/N: Well... what do you think?**

 **Please leave a review and the next chapter WILL be out by next Friday.**

 **Until then.**


	3. Target 3

**A/N: This chapter is a little shorter than the rest as it is mostly dialogue based.**

 **Thank you all for your reviews and you patience in waiting for the whole week.**

 **So far, you apparently really like this so I'm going to keep on writing.**

 **Thank you again, and enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 3:**

 **Tall dark Italian stranger**

Tsuna didn't go to school for eight days after that incident.

The second she walked into her house she had stormed straight up into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She hadn't announced that she was home like she usually did, she just closed herself off, refusing to speak to her mother.

This had worried Nana a great deal.

Just what had happened to her daughter?

Now she just sat there, on her bed, leaning against the corner with her headphones on. She didn't read, she didn't paint, she didn't sketch, she didn't write. She didn't do any of the things she usually did when she wanted to round off after a less than pleasant day. She just curled up into a ball, hiding her face from the rest of the world.

Nana went in with her breakfast, lunch and dinner on a tray.

 _'At least she's eating'_. That was the thought that kept Nana going through the days, but she was starting to become really, really worried about her daughter.

She had never acted this way before.

During the last conversation she and Tsuna had had, Tsuna had agreed to the idea of Nana renting out room. So now, the post was out in the papers, but Nana had started to regret her decision now with her daughter in the state that she was in.

She was in the middle of preparing dinner when the phone rang.

Putting the knife down and wiping her hands off of her apron, she walked into the hallway and lifted up the receiver, putting it hesitantly to her ear.

 _'Please don't let this be about the room'_. She pleaded in her head.

"Sawada Residence."

" _Yes, I'm calling about the room."_

Nana couldn't help but to let out a deep, bothered sigh. Even if the voice on the other side of the line sounded like a very responsible young man, she really didn't want to have to accept any renters without consulting her daughter first.

And with Tsuna in the condition she was in...

" _Is this a bad time?"_ the man on the other side of the line asked.

"No." Nana answered more on reflex. Then, with a sigh and a shake of her head, she corrected herself. "Yes, actually, it is a bit of a bad time."

" _May I ask what's wrong?"_ he sounded so sincere, so kind, that Nana just couldn't help but to want to spill everything to the man.

"It's my daughter." she admitted after a moment of hesitation.

" _What's wrong with her?"_

"That's just the thing!" Nana almost screamed, letting out the worry that she had been trying to contain for the past eight days. "I don't know what's wrong with her." she glanced meaningfully up the stairs. "She just came home one day, locked herself up in her room and she hasn't spoken since." she ran a hand through her hair. "It's been eight days."

" _I see..."_ the man's voice rolled through the receiver, sounding calm and pondering.

Nana wished she could be as calm as that.

"I'm worried about her school-work as well." Nana found herself admitting, not able to stop once she had finally found an outlet to her thoughts. "She was gone for five weeks at the beginning of the year due to an accident involving a mistakenly loaded gun and she had just been back for three weeks before she became like this, she will never be able to catch up if things continues like this." she was almost ripping her hair out of her head at his point.

" _A mistakenly loaded gun?"_ the man questioned after a moment's silence.

"That's not important right now." Nana looked up the stairs again, almost as if making sure her daughter wasn't standing there, listening in on her conversation. But that wasn't possible. "What's important is that my daughter isn't getting the education she needs."

" _Don't worry about that ma'am."_

Nana couldn't help the frown forming on her face.

"Why shouldn't I worry?!" she put her hand on her hip even if the man on the other end of the line couldn't see it.

" _Because_ I _happen to be a tutor."_

It was like time stopped for Nana.

It was all too perfect to be true.

At the one point of her life that she desperately needed someone that would take care of her daughters life on a level that she couldn't, one calls her up, asking to rent the room she was putting out.

Just what were the odds?

"Are you really?" she couldn't help the slight hint of excitement and hope woven into her words, her one hand finding it's place over her heart.

" _I can assure you Ma'am, I am what I say I am."_

"Do you think..." she swallowed heavily, not even daring to hope. "Do you think you could take on my daughter?"

" _Well, since I don't have a client as of right now... I don't think that would be too much of a problem."_

The relief that flooded Nana almost made her knees give out from under her.

Then, the worry was back.

"What about payment?"

There was nothing but silence between the two of them for a couple of seconds, almost making Nana believe that the man had hung up on her had she not remembered that she would have been hearing a dial-tone had he done that.

" _I'm calling for your room am I not?"_

Understanding welled up inside Nana.

"You're saying that... in payment for tutoring my daughter, you get to live in our house for free?" she asked cautiously.

" _I'd personally like to say that me tutoring your daughter would be my fee for a place to stay."_

That did indeed sound better in Nana's ears.

She would have some of the empty space in the house filled, as well as scoring a tutor for her daughter with a problem for the test-taking situations and currently very, _very_ behind in her education.

It's a win-win situation really.

Biting her lip, Nana gave the man her answer.

"Alright, it's a deal."

" _Great."_ the man commented and Nana could practically hear the smile in his voice. _"I'll be coming over tomorrow afternoon, if that is alright of course?"_

"Of course it's alright." then she caught herself, she had forgotten something terribly important. "What's your name?"

There was a deep chuckle on the other end.

" _Reborn."_ and the the dial-tone resonated through the receiver.

For a moment, Nana just stood there, staring down at the phone and contemplating just what she had just agreed to. Finally, she put the phone down and turned her attention towards the stairs.

She would have to relay this information to her daughter sooner or later.

Before she knew it, she was standing in front of the door with the name "Tsunako" written on it in white surrounded by swirls in all the colors of the rainbow.

Taking a deep breath, Nana lifted her hand and rapped on the door.

No answer.

Pushing the door open, she called out her daughter's name.

Still no response.

"Someone just called for the room." Nana tried, hoping for some reaction. Still nothing. "He's going to be your tutor." no reaction.

Giving up, Nana started to back out.

"Just thought I'd let you know that he's coming tomorrow." she gave her daughter a meaningful look, not that she could see her from where she hid her face behind her knees.

"Bye then."

With that said, she closed the door behind her, leaving her daughter alone in the room that became more and more stuffy with every day that passed.

Lifting her head lightly, Tsuna's light brown eyes fell on the door.

"A tutor huh?" she muttered to the silence of the room.

She knew very well that she was worrying her mother with her actions but she couldn't help it. She didn't feel safe out there.

She worried that, if she left her room, if she allowed herself to show off just the tiniest bit of emotion, her hands would catch fire like they had done in the warehouse, and if they did, there was a big chance that she would end up hurting someone, or end up in some freak science-lab somewhere because she wasn't even hurt by the fire radiating off of her.

The thought of those flames made her feel that tingling sensation again and she quickly shook her head, trying to rid herself of those kind of thoughts.

Just what was happening to her?

Desperately, Tsuna buried her face into her knees again, wishing she could meet that man again, if only so that she could ask him what was causing these kind of things.

Her fingers tightened around her upper arms.

She really needed someone who understood her at the moment, and she didn't have one.

* * *

The man standing outside the Sawada Household the next day was wearing a black fedora, black slacks and a black tie, but he had a yellow dress-shirt on. He had a suitcase in his one hand, staring up at the house with a light smirk on his mouth.

He was going to have some fun in this house.

He stalked straight up to the front door as if he had done so a thousand times before, jamming his finger on the doorbell before he stood back and waited.

"Yes!" the same voice as the woman on the phone rang through the inside of the house shortly before the door opened to reveal a relatively short woman with straight chocolate-brown hair and child-like features filled with blissful innocence.

So this was Tsunako's mother then huh?

Tilting his fedora towards the woman, he gave her his signature greeting.

"Chaos."

For a moment, she just stood there, staring wide-eyed at him in shock before realization dawned upon her facial features.

"Reborn-sesei?"

He smiled, nodding in confirmation.

Frantically, the woman motioned for him to come inside, almost stumbling on the raised flooring as Reborn took of his shoes.

"I'm Nana." the woman declared, a wide smile on her face.

He just continued smiling.

"I kind of figured." he adjusted his hold on his suitcase. "It was on the add."

"Right." Nana looked a bit embarrassed for a moment but she quickly added. "I'll show you where you'll be staying." she jerked her head in the direction of the stairs.

Reborn followed the woman up the stairs and through the hallways, but when there, there was one thing that caught his eye.

A sign on the door to his left closest to the staircase.

It was so brightly colored that he couldn't not see it. The name "Tsunako" spelled out in white with swirls in all the colors of the rainbow radiating from it.

It was quite beautiful.

"Tsuna-chan made that." Nana said, having stopped when she realized he wasn't following her and looked behind her to see what had stopped him. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest as she stared at the sign. "She spent half a day working on it."

Reborn turned his head towards Nana.

"Artistic is she, your daughter?"

"Very." she sounded very much like a boasting parent at the moment, then she deflated. "Not so much right now though."

Reborn nodded in understanding as Nana pushed up a door a little further down the hallway.

"This will be your room."

Honestly speaking, the room had been larger than Reborn had expected it to be.

The walls were painted a light green, a single bed was pushed up in one of the corners, it's covers a plain white (possibly because Nana didn't want to have to guess colors), the only other furniture in the room was a dresser, a bedside table, a desk and a chair. No decorations.

"Make yourself at home." with that said, Nana prepared herself to walk away to leave the man alone.

"Wait." His voice caused Nana to practically freeze in the doorway. "You said your daughter was in an accident involved a mistakenly loaded gun." the woman's eyes visibly tensed. "I need to know what you mean by that."

He heard a deep sigh before a dejected Nana leaned her back against the door-frame.

"Two weeks after Tsuna-chan started high-school... one of her classmates thought it would be fun to bring a gun to school." Reborn couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow. "Of course, he didn't think it was loaded but... apparently, one bullet was left in the chamber and so when he pulled the trigger..." her voice had grown quieter and quieter with every word she spoke until she couldn't continue and had to put her hand over her mouth.

"Your daughter was shot?" Reborn asked gently, earning a jerky nod from the woman.

Slowly lowering her hand, Nana hugged herself.

"She was in a coma for three weeks... the doctors hadn't actually believed that she would wake up."

"But she did." setting the suitcase down on the bed, he noticed a small smile creep up in the corner of Nana's mouth.

"Those doctors couldn't possibly know my daughter." she turned towards Reborn, her eyes positively gleaming with pride. "She may not look like much, but my daughter's a fighter." she gave him a look as if daring him to tell her she was wrong.

"I'm sure she is." Reborn said putting his best smile on.

This pleased Nana and she told him that she would have dinner ready in about half an hour, then she was gone, leaving him standing in the room she had provided him with.

He listened to the woman descending the stairs until he couldn't hear her anymore, then he promptly left the room, stalking straight over to Tsunako's door. He didn't even bother to knock, he just pushed it open.

He gave the relatively messy state of the room before he locked his eyes on the teenager sitting, curled up on the bed. He made a quick note of her attire, consisting of high-waist jeans short, a white tank-top, a flannel shirt and black thigh-socks.

He mentally noted that this girl wasn't especially girly in fashion sense, but she was feminine enough to wear skirts and dresses so long as they were plain and didn't stand out too much, probably due to the lack of will to attract attention. A healthy contrast to the women he had encountered through his profession.

At the sound of the door opening, Tsuna raised her head to see who it was since her mother had never failed to knock on the door before entering, and her eyes widened when she saw who her visitor was.

"You..."

Reborn couldn't resist holding out his arms as if showing himself off.

"Me."

Slowly, Tsuna allowed herself to relax, letting her knees fall from her chest and down towards the mattress. She kept her arms firmly wrapped around herself as if trying to comfort herself.

This was probably the first time in days that she allowed herself to relax, Reborn noted.

Shaking his head, he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him.

No need for Nana to overhear what they were going to talk about.

Reborn spotted the folded-up black blazer lying on the chest and he didn't spare a second before he swiped it up and put it on in the matter of a second.

He was buttoning it up as he sat down on the edge of the bed, turning his torso towards her so that she could see his eyes.

Her eyes hadn't left him since he entered the room.

He gave her as gentle an expression he could with his appearance.

"Your mother tells me you haven't left this room since the incident."

She shook her head, unclasping her fingers from her forearms so that she may bring them out in the line of her eyes. She flexed her fingers in what could only be experimentation.

"I'm scared..." she spoke under her voice.

Reaching out, Reborn took her hands from her. Turning them over, he looked at them with experienced eyes. Where most people would see perfectly normal palms, he could see just a bit more than that.

Tsuna could have almost sworn, that for a split second, the man's eyes flashed a bright, sunlight yellow, but it was back to the regular onyx before she could see if she had been right. She brushed it off as the light streaming in through her chiffon curtains reflecting in his eyes.

In Reborn's vision, Tsuna's hand was surrounded by an aura of orange light, slowly pulsating but he noticed something that troubled him. The pulsating was at an uneven rhythm. An uneven rhythm indicated that the flame was unstable and that was incredibly dangerous for both the individual and the people around him or her. It meant poor control and poor control could lead to active flames at inopportune times.

Also, an unstable flame was very uncommon for the Cour DiLeone.

Looking up at Tsuna's questioning expression, everything suddenly clicked into place.

Letting go of her hands, Reborn sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, feeling the irritation build up inside of him.

Damned Nono... how could he have done something like that to a girl?

"Who are you?"

Tsuna's soft soprano voice cut through the silence of the room like a newly polished knife, forcing Reborn out of his thoughts on how to dispose of his boss in the most effective way that would leave the less amount of evidence pointing towards him. Turning back towards the girl, Reborn only had to partly force the smile to his face.

"My name is Reborn." he gave her with a tilt of his hat. "I was sent here from Italy to help you."

She frowned.

"Help me?"

The smile wiped off of Reborn's face, he was all business now.

"You're a Cour DiLeone Sawada Tsunako." he stated, leaning a little bit towards her.

"What does that mean?" she wrapped her arms around herself, pulling her knees up but she didn't bury herself in them. They were more for protection that hiding.

"Cour DiLeone is Italian for 'Heart of the Lion' or 'Lionheart'." Reborn replied dutifully, she deserved to know this after all. "It is the name of which your family is commonly known by."

Her eyes widened slightly.

"You didn't know you were Italian?"

Looking down, she let herself relax a little once again.

"I... I knew I had Italian roots but... I didn't know I still had relatives living there." she looked slightly sheepish but he didn't push her about it.

"The whole... fire thing." Tsuna noticeably tensed up at the mentioning of it. "That is a family trait that everyone of the bloodline is born with the potential of producing." he paused for a moment to let the new information sink in, he could see how her eyebrows were furrowing in confusion. "Not everyone actually develops it of course but that doesn't mean they're not able to."

She pit her lip, obviously thinking about something.

She opened her mouth, closed it, then she opened it again and this time she could actually manage to make her voice work.

"Why can we do this?"

"Now that is an excellent question."

That was obviously not the answer she had wanted.

"All we know is that three hundred years ago, a man named Gitto DiLeone showed up with the ability to produce flames." he looked at her as if that name was supposed to mean something to her and she supposed it should because of the 'DiLeone' part of the name. "We don't know where he got the ability, he just did, and he passed on the ability to all his descendants."

Tsuna could just barely believe what this guy was telling her.

Most if it didn't make any nick of sense, but then he brings in a factor of her life that not many people knew (heck, no one in her school knew) and makes her throw 'bullshit' out the window once again.

Also, if she didn't know for a fact that the flame part was real, she probably would have called him crazy a long time ago.

Heck, maybe she was the one crazy and this whole thing was just happening inside her mind.

Weaving her fingers into the tangles of her hair, Tsuna tried to wrap her head around what he was currently telling her.

"So you're telling me that there are multiple people running around in Italy setting themselves on fire but they don't burn?"

"No." there was no hesitation, so thought behind it. It was quick and final.

The sudden response actually made Tsuna flinch.

"But you said-"

"Usually, you develop the ability to make some kind of specially developed weapon catch fire when it is in your hand." He glanced down at her hands when he said this. The hands that were currently clutching at her knees, almost tearing her socks with her nails. "You are the first one I have aencountered that can produce it directly from your skin." he looked up at her again, only this time, his expression made Tsuna feel as if she was some sort of experiment that he couldn't wait to execute. "The only other person known to be able to do that was Gitto himself."

In a pathetic attempt to straighten out her back, Tsuna squirmed where she was sitting, moving her legs so that they were crossed in front of her in stead of drawn up to her chest. She set her face, trying to make herself look suspicious.

She failed miserably, but that didn't stop her from asking her question.

"How am I supposed to know this is not just some freak one-time thing?"

"Have you ever been burnt?"

Once again, the response came so suddenly that Tsuna was momentarily taken aback, having to shake her head in order to get her thoughts straight before she looked at the man again.

"What?"

"When you reached out to touch a flame or fire when you were a child, or when you accidentally put your hand on the stove, or when you picked up a cookie when they had just come out of the oven. Have you ever burnt yourself?"

She opened her mouth, about to tell him that of course she had, when she stopped herself.

She remembered the one time when she was out camping with her class and she had fallen over, her one hand had fallen on top of what had felt like the firewood they had gathered. Everyone had suddenly freaked out, saying that her hand had fallen into the camp-fire but when they ran to check on it, they had found absolutely nothing wrong.

Another time, during home economics, the assignment was omelet and one of the girls in the class had absolutely freaked when she had seen Tsuna touching the frying-pan on the metal. She had insisted that Tsuna should run her hand under cool water only when they looked at it afterwards, it looked perfectly fine. They had brushed it off as having caught the mistake before it left any lasting marks on her skin.

Looking back on all these instances, Tsuna couldn't help but to frown.

She knew that, technically, fire should burn off your skin, leaving bright pink tissue, sometimes even red if it was hot enough. She had seen it happen as a child and thus knew that fire was dangerous. However... she couldn't actually remember one time in her childhood where she had actually experienced that burn herself, even though she technically should have on multiple occasions.

It made her feel like she had skipped one line on the checklist of things to do as a dumb child.

"No..." she answered timidly.

"That is the biological trait of the Cour DiLeone." Reborn explained. "Because of their constant involvement with flames, they have become immune to burns and heat." reaching out, he gently put his hand on her shoulder, forcing her to look up and straight into his eyes. "It's in your D.N.A. Tsunako. Your bloodline, the very thing that makes you you and you can't change that." he took his hand off her shoulder so that he could pick up her hands again, only this time, he brought them up and into her line of sight, palms facing her. "The fires are yours."

For a moment, she just sat there, staring at her palms as if they didn't belong to her.

Finally, she clenched her fists firmly and practically slammed her hands down at her legs.

"I'm still scarred of them." she muttered, looking down at the limbs, she looked as if they had done something horrible to offend her.

"Don't be." Reborn took of his hat, studying it thoroughly. "They aren't triggered by just any old emotion." he gave the hat a brush over the top with his hand.

"Then what is the trigger?"

Sighing, Reborn put the hat back on his head.

"Determination."

A needle could have been heard being dropped from outside Tsuna's bedroom door, that's how silent it was.

She stared openly at the man, face contorted in confusion.

"Determination?" she repeated, confirming what he had just said.

"Yep."

"Then why did it..." she shook her head violently, making her messy hair whip around her face. She opened her mouth again, trying to mentally rephrase the question. "Why did I start burning when I was scared?"

"Fear is really just determination in disguise." Reborn tried, only once again, she gave him that confused expression. He was starting to believe that it would eventually become permanent and she would have to live through the rest of her days looking like a living question mark. "Fear is the feeling the body gets when it's determined to get itself out of a dangerous situation."

She nodded lightly to herself, showing that she at least understood some part of it.

Her finger flexed on her lap.

"Is there a way to control them?" she looked up at him, her large doe eyes pleading with him to tell her that it was.

"There is." Reborn answered with a light smile.

This was proving to be easier than he had expected.

"I could teach you if you'd like."

If Tsuna had felt more comfortable with the man in front of her, she probably would have thrown her arms around him in a large, grateful hug. But she wasn't that comfortable with the man.

She was comfortable enough to be sitting in the same room as him with the door closed but that was just because he had had the chance to do something terrible to her before and he hadn't. She didn't know if she should, but she really felt that she could trust him.

"Please." was her answer.

She wanted control, she wanted to be able to control whatever power that had suddenly burst out of her at one of the, actually, most desirable time despite the fear that had overcome her. If she learns how to control it, she will finally be able to walk around other people without having to fear that she was going to hurt any of them.

She had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she missed the smirk that spread across Reborn's face at her agreement.

Standing up from the bed, Reborn once again put his hands into his pockets.

"Your mother hand I have made an agreement." this made Tsuna snap out of her thoughts and look up at him. "I'm staying here for free in exchange for me tutoring you."

Tsuna frowned at his words.

"But I don't need-"

"I know you don't need tutoring Tsunako." he had thrown up one hand the moment he started talking. "But this will give me an excuse to train you, so let your mother believe that I'm tutoring you, alright?"

Slowly, Tsuna nodded.

She didn't like lying to her mother, but there was absolutely no way to explain this to her mother to make her understand. Heck, even Tsuna didn't fully understand it but she knew she understood it more than her mother ever would.

Pleased with her agreement, Reborn turned around and walked back towards the door.

"One more thing." he paused just when he had put his hand on the door-handle, glancing at Tsuna from over his shoulder. "You should probably come down for dinner today. Your mother is getting really worried about your well-being."

Just when Tsuna was about to decline, seeing as she didn't feel safe outside of the comforts of her bedroom, Reborn cut her off.

"See it as the first step you have to take before you can even think about returning to school." and with that, he opened the door, and he was gone. Leaving Tsuna alone to contemplate just what the hell she had agreed to do.

She had a feeling she would regret her decision sooner rather than later.

* * *

 **A/N: I don't think people ever read this since every time I upload a chapter, I keep telling people that I'm going to update the Friday that follow and I still recieve multiple reivews asking me to updade SOON.**

 **Well, I'm updating SOON. As the next chapter WILL be up next Friday so all of you impatient people will just have to suck it up and deal with it.**

 **I'm spoiling you with these weekly updated people, at least I'm not making you wait a month for the next chapted so be Frickin' happy.**

 **Anyway, please tell me what you think until the next chapter comes up.**

 **I'm on a roll with this thing.**


	4. Target 4

**A/N: Forgive me if this one becomes slightly forced towards the end but I hope to make it up to you with the appearance of one more character to the cast!**

 **Enjoy.**

 **P.S. Vongola Primo has always been named Gitto in my eyes, not Giotto. ALSO, if one looks at the family tree Reborn showed Tsuna in like the first episode, you will find that his name is actually Giptto.**

 **We're all wrong humans, and I'm not ashamed of it.**

* * *

 **Target 4:**

 **Hard olive eyes**

Tsuna sat on top of her coffee-table, her legs crossed in front of her and her hands resting palms up on her ankles in her most relaxed position possible considering the pair of onyx eyes staring intently at her back.

"Relax." her shoulders twitched at the sound of the dark voice.

"I'm trying."

"Try harder."

Reborn pulled himself away from the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he kept his eyes pinned on his student. He took in her posture, a dancers posture, her fingers reeking of the smell of oil-paint and charcoal, as well as the ease of which she kept her legs crossed, showing off just how flexible her joints were.

She looked every bit like the innocent virgin of a teenage girl she was. With her messy hair pulled back into an equally messy ponytail, leaving her bangs and a few locks in front of her ears. He noticed that her ears were pierced, carrying a pair of barely visible pearls. He doubted anyone had ever noticed her wearing earrings before, her hair having always been in the way.

Her large eyes and petite frame gave her a child-like appearance despite her sixteen years of age, and the fact that her hands and feet were absolutely tiny gave her the air of never being able to lay a harmful hand on anyone.

He really had some work to do.

He noticed a frown slowly etching itself onto her face.

"Can you feel it?" he asked, taking a step closer to where she was sitting.

"I feel... something..." she shut her eyes tighter, tilting her head slightly to the side as if listening for something that was barely audible.

"Do you think you can grasp it?"

He could see her fingers twitching where they lay, one hand resting in the other.

Finally, Tsuna let out a deep, resigned breath, letting her posture break.

"No." she answered, shaking her head. She brought her hand up to brush her hair behind her ear. "It's too weak."

This brought a frown to Reborn's face as well.

They have been doing this same thing for the past four days. It was now exactly two weeks since Tsuna had first awakened her flames and they were still working on the first stage of the training, barely receiving any results at all.

The worst part was that it wasn't that Tsuna wasn't trying enough, because she clearly was, it was because of the seal that had been put on her bloodline powers.

The seal was only nicked in the corner, allowing Tsuna some access to the powers she had been born with, but it was messing up the control she should be able to have on them.

Reborn really was at a loss for what he should do.

He could somehow force her flames to activate again and thus break the seal just the little bit more. But such a thing was risky. If he pushed her too far the flames could take over completely, and if they did, they could completely burn her out no matter how flame-resistant she was.

Reborn shook his head, his eyes hidden by the shadow of his fedora.

This was taking too long.

Sure, the regular Cour DiLeone needs about two decades in order to fully master the flames, but he didn't have two decades. He needed to come up with a way to break the seal a bit further without endangering the girl.

His mission was proving to be more difficult than he had expected.

"I'm calling it a day." he declared, raising his head to bring his eyes out of the shadows.

At his words, Tsuna absolutely deflated. Folding over her crossed legs she let her arms fall over the edge of the table, swaying limply in her exhaustion. Apparently, the exercise had taken more of the girl's energy than it appears to do when she just sits there.

She let out a long breath in relief.

"Thank the heavens..." she muttered, her face pressed into her legs.

Reborn has had Tsuna do the exact same exercise over and over again, trying to get some form of result, and the only progress they have reached is a tiny sensation of flickering at the center of her chest, but they have yet to actually grasp that, and if they can't grasp it, there is no way they can even begin teaching her the control she needs.

For the tenth time in the four days he had been training her, Reborn damned Timoteo.

A knock echoed through the air.

Looking up from where her head had previously been hanging, Tsuna looked up at the door in time to see her mother enter with a determined expression on her face.

"Tsuna-chan." she put her hands on her hips. "This can't go on."

Tsuna looked at her mother, her brown eyes thrown wide at the woman's declaration.

"What can't?"

Tsuna prayed silently to everything holy that Nana didn't mean the odd exercises Reborn had forced her into doing to try and help her get hold of that flickering feeling.

Nana jammed her hands on her hips.

"I will not allow you to be absent from school any further."

Tsuna felt both relieved that the exercises weren't worrying her mother, and terribly frightened at the words themselves.

She was nowhere near learning how to control her ability. How was she supposed to walk around the school grounds constantly feeling like she's going to burst into flames? She would be a living, ticking time-bomb just waiting to go off in the middle of a large gathering of gossiping, hormonal teenagers.

The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became.

The tingling came back.

Raising herself from her legs, Tsuna forced herself to calm down.

She knew, if she didn't calm down, that tingling would act like the spark that set off a violent stream of liquid fire in her veins.

Before the fire happened, the tingling would have eventually turned into a feeling of being feverish, and then evolve into an extreme itching sensation, but that never happened again.

Reborn had told her that's what the first time awakening the fire has always been described as by the people before her. The tingling will always be there as some sort of warning signal, but after the first awakening, the very sensation will be like liquid fire growing hotter and hotter until the flames burst out, at which point the heat disappears from within the body.

The flames were apparently not only fueled by determination, they were the materialization of your determination seeping through your pours at times of need.

Tsuna had asked her tutor what kind of need he was talking about, but he never answered her.

"Mom-" Tsuna tried once the tingling had diminished.

"This is not up for option Tsuna-chan." Nana said, holding up one of her hands as she cut off her daughter. "You're going back to school this Monday, and that is final."

With that said, Nana turned towalk out, but before she disappeared into the hallway, she paused in the doorway, turning back towards Reborn.

"You will have her caught up by then right?"

"Of course." was his quick answer.

And then she was gone.

Now, even though Reborn had originally told Tsuna that he was there for reasons other than her education, he had ensured that she had gotten just as much tutoring in the education she had missed as the physical training, if not more.

He couldn't allow his student to fall behind after all.

"Reborn..."

Speaking of his student.

He turned his attention towards the brunette slowly getting off the coffee-table, her eyes focused on the door her mother just disappeared out of. She brushed her messy locks behind her ear again.

Reborn had found this to be a very annoying habit of hers as she did it practically all the time, it didn't matter weather or not the hair was already brushed back.

He suspected that it gave her some form of comfort in doing it.

"What is it?"

Tsuna adjusted the long gray knitted vest she was wearing. It had been caught in the corner of the table as she had gotten up and thus twisted in an uncomfortable way.

She should have chosen something different to wear.

"Will I be alright, going to school?" she twisted her hands into her white half-sleeved shirt, looking immensely weary of what he might tell her.

Leaning against the wall, Reborn put his finger to his chin, scratching it thoughtfully.

"Do you think you can calm yourself down in case something happens?"

Awkwardly, she scratched her arm.

"I... I think so..." she had this uncertain look on her face. "I'm not entirely sure..."

Reborn pushed himself off the wall, stalking right up to his pupil before gently placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Well, we have two days to boost your confidence."

She turned her head to look into his eyes. She looked every bit like the innocent sixteen year old she was, nothing like what Timoteo wanted her to become.

* * *

Monday arrived faster than Tsuna would have liked.

Sitting at the breakfast table, she kept fiddling with her chopsticks, resting the heel of her hand on her lap. She kept her eyes closed, her breaths heavy, painfully even and directed through her nostrils.

Reborn had given her as much preparations as he could squeeze in during the weekend, but Tsuna still felt terribly unprepared for what she was about to do.

"Tsunako." Reborn's voice cut the silence, forcing Tsuna to open her eyes.

Turning to her tutor, Tsuna's fingers clenched around her chopsticks. She met his cold black eyes from across the table.

"You need to eat." he put a piece of egg into his mouth for empathies. "You'll need all the energy you can get."

"I know..." Tsuna muttered, pulling her chopsticks from her lap. "I just... don't think I can hold anything down." she started poking around on her plate, leaning her head on her free hand.

Reborn noticed the slight shake in her movements.

Putting down his chopsticks, Reborn leaned his chin against the fold of his fingers, holding his eyes on her, not even blinking.

"Remember what we were practicing."

"Yes..." Tsuna replied, splitting a piece of her egg absent-mindedly. "Yes, I remember." she nodded, picking up a piece of egg, holding it in the air in front of her face.

Even the smell was making her nauseous.

"Tsuna-chan." Nana spoke up as she sat down in the seat next to her daughter.

Ever since Nana had made that announcement to Tsuna, the anxiety had been more than visible in the teenager's actions. Stumbling around more than she had ever done, dropping dishes as if her fingers had been made out of rubber. She had paid even less attention to her hygiene than normal.

Tsuna's previously gorgeous golden-brown hair was now in a crows nest of a bun at the back of her head. She was as pale as a sheet with dark circles under her eyes from serious lack of sleep, not to mention that she had given off a serious scent of of layered sweat and other dirt that Nana just couldn't place. She had had to practically beg her daughter to take a shower that morning, even if the hair remained the same tangled mess, at least her daughter wouldn't be warding off her classmates with her smell.

Nana reached out and took her daughters trembling hand.

How it was able to even hold up the chopsticks, Nana would probably never know.

"It's just school." she insisted, looking into her daughters eyes.

Slowly, Tsuna moved her own gaze towards her mother, lowering her hand so that it was resting on the table between them.

Neither of them noticed when Reborn got up and left the dining room, allowing the two females to have some time for themselves.

Nana squeezed her daughters hand, giving her her best supportive smile.

"You've gone a thousand times and nothing bad has happened before."

Tsuna rolled her eyes.

That just showed how little Nana knew about her school life, how little the woman truly noticed when her daughter came home from school after a particularly terrible day.

Nana didn't know about the years of bullying, Nana didn't know about just how terrible a hormonal teenager could be, and she definitely didn't know what her school-mates had tried to do to Tsuna that Friday afternoon now starting on the third week into her past.

With her free hand, Tsuna brushed a few messy locks behind her ear.

She swallowed heavily.

"Couldn't I just, stay here?" she asked, looking up at her mother hopefully, her eyes showing off just how frightened she really was, if her mother hadn't already seen it.

Nana let out a deep sigh.

"Yes..." she nodded in confirmation, looking away from her daughter for a split second. "Reborn-sensei could give you perfectly good education here at home but..." she sighed heavily. "I don't want you to waste away your teenage years in your bedroom."

Nana stroke her thumb over her daughter's hand, feeling the smooth, flawless skin.

Tsuna had proven to Nana that the best way to reach smooth, soft skin was to simply leave it alone. Tsuna didn't use any skin creme or moisturizes, she just used shower gel when cleaning up and that only being a minimal amount for under her arms, otherwise, she didn't do anything with her skin, just exposing it to nature and that had gotten the best result, the products Nana had been using had apparently only served to dry out the skin and thus forcing the consumer's to buy even more of their products.

Quite the ingenious set-up for the cosmetics market really.

Tsuna didn't even use make-up unless for formal occasions, leaving her skin absolutely unblemished had it not been for that scar on the side of her stomach after the bullet.

"You're a beautiful girl with an equally beautiful personality Tsuna-chan." Nana insisted, ignoring her daughter's look of disbelief. "I want you to be out there, making friends, boyfriends."

She had been having the same dream ever since Tsuna had reached her teen years and Nana had first made an effort to teach her daughter to cook (not that it worked that well), that Tsuna would one day find herself a lovely man, get married and raise adorable grandchildren for her. Only, even as her daughter grew more lovely, she wasn't even able to make friends.

Admittedly, that had worried Nana immensely, but she didn't want to push her daughter for any information about her school-life.

Apparently, Nana's words had surprised Tsuna.

"Boyfriends?" she screeched, yanking her hand out of her mother's grip. "As in plural?"

Tsuna doubted that she ever would be able to even get one man interested in her enough to want to be with her, much less more. Nana probably believed that Tsuna could somehow get herself a harem if she really tried. But that was an absolute impossibility.

"Tsunako."

The sound of the deep, male voice caused both women to jump in the seats.

They turned towards the source of the sound to see the Italian leaning against the frame of the door leading into the hall.

"If you don't hurry up, you're going to be late."

Tsuna nodded stiffly, turning back towards her plate.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Tsuna's steps were heavy as she made her way through the street, slowly moving towards the school grounds. Most likely, she was trying to see if she could skip going entirely if she walked slow enough, but she also refused to be late simply due to her preservation instincts.

If she was late, then the school prefect would be on her and she really didn't need that on her first day back in the classroom.

She clutched tightly at the straps of her bag, looking around every corner for potential threats before she forced herself to keep going.

She had put on a knee-length skirt that morning with an even baggier blouse, the vest was left behind this close to the summer but she had put on black pantyhose in stead of socks to try and give herself at least some sense of protection against the peering eyes around her.

She paused once she arrived at the school gates.

She stood just outside of school-property and stared up at the building, looking for that feeling of dread she had received when Mochida and his boys had started following her that day. Her fingers clenched themselves even more as she shook her head violently, trying to rid herself of the unpleasant memories that threatened to resurface.

She didn't feel anything.

She was just about to walk in past the gatepost's when she suddenly felt the air shift.

The very next second, something black zoomed past her. It would have run over her foot had she not moved it just before the sound of a roaring motor reached her ears.

It was a motorbike.

A motorbike that reached a skidding halt when the driver turned it on the side and shut off the motor, leaving two trails of black from the tires running along the pavement.

The driver had managed to halt his bike right at the parking-lot for bikes.

She could tell that it was a man. The guy's built was too manly to be anything else, with his black slacks and the white dress-shirt that could only partially be seen from under the dark red hoodie the guy was wearing for the wind when driving.

Tsuna watched as the guy took off his fingerless-biker gloves (taking a small note on just how long and slender the fingers were) before he moved onto his helmet.

She didn't know why, but she found herself holding her breath.

Silver.

Mid-neck length locks of silver hair tumbled out of the black helmet, settling around the driver's head with a light wave at the end.

The guy ran his long fingers through his hair once, adjusting it before he turned his head in her direction, locking her in place with his eyes.

She didn't think she had ever seen a more gorgeous shade of olive-green in her life.

Everything about this guy's appearance was as if it had been sculpted by a professional artist just to capture your attention. A prominent jawline attached to a surprisingly slender neck, his nose was just slightly upturned and his eyebrows were arched over his slightly narrowed eyes.

He was handsome. But not ruggedly like Yamamoto.

No... the guy still sitting on his motorbike, staring at Tsuna, was handsome in an elegant manner, no... aristocratic, that's the word. No matter how much of a delinquent his style of clothing and choice of accessories made him look, Tsuna could see beyond that, probably more than her other school-mates bothered to look.

She got this image of a rich man's son who for some reason began to hate the lifestyle and ran away, becoming the guy in front of her at the very moment.

She would really like to paint him one day.

Snapping out of the trance the guy had put her in, Tsuna scurried off towards the main door of the building, ignoring the feel of the olive-green eyes following her.

* * *

It had taken almost everything in Tsuna to open her classroom door, but she had managed it, and now, here she stood, at the center of attention to the rest of her classmates.

It was quiet. No one said a word. Everyone just stared at one another.

Tsuna was starting to think that everyone was just going to keep staring at her like that, when a lightly callused hand landed on her shoulder.

A hand that smelled of tobacco smoke.

"You're in the way." the voice was a dark tenor, gravely (probably from the smoking) and sounded quite annoyed with her standing in the doorway.

Tsuna turned her head towards the voice just as the majority of the females in the classroom burst into a fit of squeals and giggles.

She didn't hold it against them.

The man standing behind her, looking at her with an expression of irritation in his olive-green eyes, was the guy she had just seen speed past her on his motorbike.

She had half an ear to listen to the screams of delight from her female classmates.

"It's Gokudera-kun!"

"Look, look, he's got that red shirt on!"

"He's so hot!"

There, she had to disagree with them.

The guy (Gokudera was it?), wasn't what she would call hot, the way he wore his uniform only gave his appearance the illusion of being a delinquent, thus hiding the true aristocratic nature of his looks.

Tsuna found herself disappointed at this.

He had taken off the red hoodie, having it rolled up under his one arm, showing off the white short-sleeved dress-shirt that he had left unbuttoned, revealing the lighter red Tank-top underneath with the black skull printed across the chest. He had chains hanging from his belt-loops, multiple pendants hanging around his neck. The last things she noticed were the many piercings in his left ear, several bangles wrapped around his wrists and a couple of rings decorated his long fingers, everything having the same delinquent air around them.

Tsuna noticed that he hadn't just thrown these accessories on for pretense, it was just the way he dressed, and it was such a shame really.

Realizing that she was still blocking the entrance to the classroom, Tsuna shook her head.

"Sorry..." she mumbled, stepping out of the way, giving Gokudera just enough room to step through.

She brushed her hair behind her ear.

Gokudera let out a 'tch' before he shoved his hands into his pockets and moved into the room, sitting down in one of the desks closer to the back of the room.

"Sawada." Yamamoto spoke as he got up from his desk and walked right up to Tsuna. "Where have you been?"

She shook her head slowly, stalking further into the room.

"I don't want to talk about it."

The difference between Gokudera's aristocratic looks and Yamamoto's looks were great. Where Gokudera had been pale, Yamamoto was tan, where Gokudera was about half a head taller than her, Yamamoto towered over her. Yamamoto had the typical Japanese coloring with black hair and brown eyes. This made Tsuna wonder...

Was Gokudera of mixed racial?

Tsuna's eyes had drifted to Gokudera, and Yamamoto noticed this.

"Our new classmate." he answered the question she had yet to ask. "Came her about a week ago now." he leaned back against the wall, his hands folded behind his head. He glanced at Tsuna from the corner of his eye.

He knew that Tsuna wasn't one for romance, that she didn't crush easily on a handsome face. He had realized that when he visited her in the hospital and she hadn't blown up into a blushing mess at the sight of him. She had been nervous and stuttered over a few words, but that was just because she wasn't used to talking. So now, when Yamamoto found her so openly looking at Gokudera, he couldn't help but to wonder what she found so interesting about the new guy.

He was about to ask her when she beat him to it.

"Where's he from?"

Yamamoto couldn't help but to smile at her question.

Sawada Tsunako, ever observant. Usually, even if you were of mixed racial, you still lived in Japan. None of their classmates would have realized that Gokudera really was foreign had their teacher not revealed it to them that day he arrived to their classroom.

"You noticed that huh?" he laughed, not even bothering to ask how she noticed as he probably wouldn't understand anyway.

Looking towards their new classmate, he answered her question.

"He's Gokudera Hayato, apparenly he's from Italy."

As if hearing him, Gokudera's unique eyes immediately snapped towards Yamamoto, glaring daggers at him from across the room.

At the name of the country, Tsuna lowered her eyes to the floor.

"Italy huh..." she mumbled.

That country just kept coming up didn't it?

Yamamoto caught on to her words, frowning lightly.

"What's so interesting about that?" he found himself asking.

He knew that there was something about foreign countries that has been drawing humans away for millenniums. But there was just something in the way she said the name of the country that caught his interest, like she was tired of hearing it.

For a moment, Tsuna contemplated telling him the truth.

"My family hail from there." she finally answered, realizing that unless she told him the truth quickly, Yamamoto would somehow warp her words into something entirely different, and when he did, almost nothing would be able make him realize the truth. Probably if it was staring him right in the face but it was still quite annoying.

It was one of his faults.

As she expected, the declaration brought a look of shock onto the athlete's face.

"You're part Italian?" he asked, turning his head to look at her properly.

Now that she mentioned it, she did have slightly paler skin than the regular Japanese, and thinner skin over her eyes making her eyes look larger, wider, with longer and more naturally bent eyelashes than the people they were surrounded by. That is only to name a few of the clear signs that she wasn't entirely Japanese but he didn't want to look any further as he felt as if he would be imposing on her if she did.

He had noticed that she seemed quite drawn back, keeping her shoulders more drawn together than they usually were and her neck contracted. Her change in the way she usually wore.

Anyway... her heritage...

It was so obvious now that she had mentioned it.

However, the difference in her appearance from the full-blooded Japanese was so small that the part of her that was Italian could only be very small.

As if reading his mind, she answered him.

"From like, three hundred years ago, but... yeah."

This was probably more than Tsuna had ever spoken to someone before with so many people that could so easily overhear what she was saying, but no one was paying them any attention.

Yamamoto knew that many of their classmates wanted to know what had caused her absence, but as she had refused to tell them there was no way they could find out as of right now.

They had all been quite surprised when they had realized that Tsuna was actually a very secretive person, it took a lot for her to reveal something more personal than what they could see. She was there, but she was just a 2D image for all they knew about her.

Yamamoto chuckled at the thought.

"You're quite the little mystery aren't you Sawada?"

She didn't answer him.

With her fingers tightening around her bag straps, Tsuna stalked over to her desk, sitting down looking very much like a frightened rabbit, clutching at her bag close to her chest as if it was giving her some form of comfort or protection.

Just what the hell happened to her?

* * *

Class began about five minutes later when Nezu-sensei walked through the door, calling for the noise to stop.

If there was one thing Tsuna hadn't missed during her two week leave from school, it had been her teacher. The one man with more lack of self-esteem than herself and thus took it out on her the most.

He always kept on bragging that he had graduated from an elite middle-school and elite high-school before once again graduating from one of the top class universities in Japan. But whenever he started bragging about those, Tsuna always had one word pop into her head.

Liar.

What kind of elite would want to teach math in their low-class high-school in their small town. It just didn't make sense.

That "liar" alarm had been going off even more violently ever since she had gotten shot but she never bothered to point it out as accusing the teacher of lying abot his education would only cause him to try and make her school-life even more of a living hell than it already were.

Why couldn't her life just be easy for once?

As Nezu-sensei began roll-call, Tsuna clutched her sketch-book to her chest.

Finally, her name came up.

"I think it's safe to assume that Sawada isn't-"

She cut him off, raising her head half-way into the air.

"Present." her voice was a bit low, but Nezu-sensei caught it.

The look on his face spoke of shock beyond belief.

He had probably thought that she had died that Friday or the weekend that followed and had been quite happy about it (she got this from the small smirk he had had on his face when reading her name).

Tsuna could hear how her class was trying to hide their chuckles.

"Oh... alright." Nezu-sensei answered, jotting down her name on the list of students present before forcing himself to continue despite his own shaky nerves and the chuckling of the classroom.

Personally, Tsuna didn't know what was so funny about it.

* * *

The rest of the day went on just like they had before.

With each hour that passed, Tsuna's grip on her sketch-book loosened until Lunch where she put it back in her bag. Finally feeling like there was nothing to be afraid of among her own classmates, even if one of them were new.

When math's began, Tsuna had pretty much returned to how her classmates remembered her, allowing them to breathe out in relief that whatever that had happened to her wasn't bad enough for her to remain that frightened for the rest of their school year.

Tsuna had found herself able to follow her lessons perfectly fine.

Not only had Reborn helped her catch up with the level her classmates were on, but he had actually taught her just a bit more than they did. This made Tsuna think slightly evil thoughts about her tutor as his teaching skills weren't exactly humane.

She didn't know how long and eraser was going to look threatening to her.

What she had learned during the lessons was that the new guy, Gokudera, was an absolute genius. Solving math equations faster than any of them had the time to breathe, much less blink.

She had to admit, she was impressed.

She had been in the middle of doodling something on her work sheet when she heard her name being called from the front of the class.

"Sawada."

Looking up, she saw Nezu-sensei looking at her with an evil glint in his eyes.

 _Time for revenge then?_ She thought with a small eye-roll that she knew for sure her teacher wouldn't notice with her head being in the angle it was.

"I expect that you know nothing about what I am currently teaching." her teacher stated, looking very smug with himself.

She couldn't help but to let out a sigh.

Even her classmates had realized that Tsuna didn't have any problem with learning the materials. Even though she had indeed been gone for quite a long time, they hadn't moved that far ahead, just enough for Tsuna to have been able to catch up in a matter of minutes.

It wasn't the first time she had been gone for an extended period of time after all and that hadn't given her too much trouble catching up.

Apparently, the rest of her class had realized this as well.

Nezu-sensei didn't notice the looks he was receiving from all over the room.

"I will ask-" he started, but once again, Tsuna cut him off.

"Actually... my mother got me a private tutor, he's been keeping me up to speed."

Once again, Nezu-sensei got that shocked expression on his face, like he had never expected Tsuna to have a caring enough mother to get her a private tutor.

Really, how low self-esteem did this guy have?

If Tsuna had been watching the class when she had mentioned her tutor, she would have noticed how Gokudera's eyes had snapped over to the back of her head, staring at her intently.

She did, however, feel a small itch at the back of her neck.

Shaking his head, Nezu-sensei brought himself out of his trance.

"I see..." he muttered, sounding as if he was talking mostly to himself. "That's good."

And then he continued teaching as if nothing happened, though his voice was harder than before.

At the back of the classroom, Gokudera kept his eyes at the back of the head of the girl with the messy golden-brown hair.

His fingers twitched.

God he needed a smoke.

"Sawada Tsunako." he muttered under his breath, picking up his pen to spin it between his fingers.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you all for reading and thank those who reviewed.**

 **I don't care if you have negative thoughts or possitive thoughts, I want to hear them all so I can know if I am doing something you're not too happy about. If you're not happy about something with the plot I have put out there is nothing I will do about it of course but I still want to hear your oppinions be it good or bad.**

 **Please leave your thoughts and the next chapter WILL be up by next Friday.**

 **Have a nice day!**


	5. Target 5

**A/N: Rejoice humans! For this is the longest chapter yet!**

 **But then again, there are those people who don't like long chapters so...**

 **Boo hoo for you.**

 **No, I'm just kidding.**

 **I was going to try and keep this relatively the same length as the others but... before I knew it, I was over 7500 words and...**

 **Well...**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 5:**

 **When you least expect it**

Tsuna had, honestly, expected more when she returned to school.

She had expected herself to be jumpy (that had been true), she had expected herself to burst into flames at every little sound (that wasn't).

So when she found herself spending two days back at school without anything major happening, in fact, even less was going on in class now that her classmates have decided that she doesn't deserve to be bullied.

She wasn't ignored in class, but no one payed any particular attention to her, allowing her to simply blend in with the rest of the students in the classroom.

It was a rather nice change.

The past two days had been very, very, uneventful compared to how her life had been up to that point. She had just come to class, done whatever work was required of her and apart from her teachers lame attempt to make himself feel better with his lying, nothing serious had happened to her. She hadn't even felt that tingling sensation _once_ ever since she came back.

That made her both happy, and just a bit weary.

She was Sawada Tsunako, Dame-Tsuna, nothing has ever gone well for her.

* * *

That Wednesday morning when Tsuna woke up, she knew something was terribly wrong.

For one, she didn't hear that familiar beeping sound that always made her wake up in annoyance. In fact, she didn't hear anything.

This was only one of the reasons why she bolted out of bed that morning. The other, was that when she looked at the silent alarm-clock, she realized that she had about half an hour to get ready and reach the school building, and the walk alone took fifteen minutes whilst her morning routine took twenty.

She would have to run.

She was in too much of a hurry to realize that she had put on a uniform that actually was her size, with the regular short-skirt she had been wearing before the incident.

Rushing down the stairs after nineteen minutes (a five minute shower and five minutes drying as much as she felt she had time for) her hair half-dry and her bag hanging from her mouth, she rushed into the kitchens were she found her mother and tutor sitting at the table, calmly drinking tea.

"Tsuna-chan?" Nana questioned, looking at her daughter like she really didn't understand the situation. "Reborn-sensei said you left early today." her voice was slightly panicked.

Tsuna would have glared at her tutor had she not been so pressed for time at the moment.

"I didn't." was her short reply.

Quickly, Tsuna grabbed herself a piece of bread and an apple from the fruit-bowl on the table. Nana had gotten up and practically run into the kitchen the second she had seen her daughter enter the room.

Just as Tsuna was going to run out of the house, the sound of her mother's voice stopped her.

"Don't forget your lunch!"

Tsuna froze with a hand on the door-handle.

Lunch?

Sure enough, when she turned back towards her mother, the woman was holding up what could only be a box wrapped in a light blue piece of cloth.

Her mother had probably made it before Reborn had told her that lie.

God bless that woman.

Tsuna jogged up, accepting the lunch-box with a grateful smile and a hug.

"Thank you."

Then, she turned around and rushed out of the house, leaving Nana standing in the hallway.

"Reborn-sensei!" Nana called out as she walked back into the dining-room, her face set into a mildly angered expression, her hands on her hips.

She almost glared at the man still sitting at the table, calmly sipping his tea.

The only indication she got that he was listening was the glance he gave her over the rim of his cup and a raised eyebrow.

"Why did you tell me Tsuna-chan left early?"

The man put his cup down, leaning back against the chair.

"That's her own fault for not setting the alarm."

She didn't get more than that.

* * *

According to Tsuna's watch, she had about nine minutes to reach the school building before she was late, and in Namimori, being late equals death.

The bread she had grabbed was already gone and she was running as fast as she could manage so early in the morning so whatever energy that little piece gave her was probably going to disappear by the time she came to school and so she wouldn't have much to work with until lunch.

Once again, God bless her mother.

She had been so caught up in her own thoughts that the sound of a motor didn't reach her ears until she rounded a corner and ran out on the road directly leading to the school. About a ten minute walk until you reached the building, and she had six minutes left.

She had been so stressed that she didn't notice the motorbike until it was right behind her.

The scattered minds of both Tsuna and the driver resulted in Tsuna almost getting run over by the vehicle. Tsuna managed to jerk herself out of the way and the driver managed to stop the engine before something serious could occur, but that didn't stop Tsuna from falling over from the sheer force of the turn, causing her to loose her balance.

Her balance may have gotten better after the accident, but that didn't mean it wasn't still bad.

Feeling a little disoriented, Tsuna managed to turn herself towards the driver, just in time to see him take off his helmet.

Of all the people she could have encountered when she was running late, it had to be Gokudera Hayato.

Not that she hated her new classmate, she didn't know anything about him so she couldn't dislike him and she have as of yet to find something that she could actually hate.

It was just that...

He kind of unnerved her.

During the past two days, she had felt an itch at the back of her neck, and every time she had felt that, she had found Gokudera looking at her with this unreadable expression that she just couldn't place. And that's what made her nervous.

She didn't know what he may want with her.

The thought of what Mochida had almost done to her always came back to her whenever she saw that look, even though he didn't give off that same vibe as Mochida.

She would never escape that incident.

Holding the helmet in his hands, Gokudera looked down on her, piercing her with those olive-green eyes that has practically haunted her mind the past two days.

"Watch where you're going." he growled, narrowing his eyes at her.

Really, he should have been the one to watch were he was going as he was the one with the vehicle between the two of them but Tsuna really didn't dare pointing that out. Plus, she really didn't have the time to argue.

"Sorry." she mumbled, getting up from the ground.

She was just about to start running again when he called out to her.

"Hey!"

Turning back towards her classmate, Tsuna just barely caught the basket-ball sized black object thrown at her.

Looking down at her hands, she was confused to find herself holding a helmet.

She gave Gokudera a questioning look.

"Put it on." he told her, leaning on the front of the bike. "You'll be late if you walk." he sounded surprisingly genuine through his gravely voice.

Hesitant and confused, Tsuna approached the vehicle, lifting the helmet up between her hands, not taking her eyes off the teenage boy for a second. He had that look again, the exact same expression he had when he looked at her in class.

Just what did it mean?

She looked down at the helmet again.

"What about you?" she asked, motioning with the helmet in her hands.

Gokudera shook his head, straightening out his back.

"Just have the one." he sent her a look, silently asking her to get a move on, they only had about five minutes left until school starts.

Even though they were pressed for time, Tsuna still found herself hesitating as she looked down at the helmet between her hands.

If they happened to end up in an accident when on that bike, he would most likely end up with much more injuries than her, well, at least more damaging injuries to his very brain.

"But, what if-"

Gokudera let out a loud groan, his hand clenching on the head of the motorbike.

"Do you want a ride or not?" his voice promised years of pain if she didn't make up her mind and fast.

Quickly, Tsuna practically jammed the helmet onto her head, only hesitating for a split second before she sat down behind Gokudera on the bike.

Before she had the chance to get even remotely comfortable, her classmate turned on the engine and took off at a frightening speed. On sheer reflex, Tsuna wound her arms around Gokudera's torso, pressing herself against his back with her eyes tightly shut.

She didn't dare open her eyes.

Most girls in this scenario probably would have gone giddy over the solid feel of his back or drooled over the fact that they were so close, but the only thought that ran thought Tsuna's head was:

 _I'm going to die!_

* * *

Thankfully, she didn't die.

The speed at which Gokudera was driving actually managed to get them to school within two minutes, leaving three for before the teachers would start making their ways to their respective classrooms for homeroom.

Tsuna gave off a particularly loud screech at the sharp turn Gokudera made before turning off the engine. She was hugging Gokudera around the torso as if he was her only lifeline, and even as the engine stopped running, it was as if her arms were glued to his body.

Annoyed at her grip, Gokudera growled.

"You can let go now." he gave her arms a tug to force her out of her terrified state.

Finally noticing what she was doing, Tsuna let her arms fall, only to bring them up again to remove the helmet from her head.

"Sorry..." she mumbled once her head was free from it's prison.

He didn't say anything, give her any sign that he had heard her at all, he just signaled with his hand for her to get a move on, leaning over the front of the bike.

She did get off, handed Gokudera the helmet back before she steadied her bag over the shoulder and backed away from both him and the vehicle.

"Thank you." and then, she spun around and bolted towards the school doors, leaving Gokudera with his bike.

He stared after her, leaning his face on his knuckles.

When he had first seen that girl, she had gone out of her way to not make her figure stand out, and yet, now she was wearing her uniform in a way that did, sure, she didn't go out of her way to show off her long legs by having a skirt just barely going over her ass, she had the standard length of mid-thigh, not showing too much but enough to catch the eye of a few males.

She did have a nice set of legs, any red-blooded male would be able to notice that but Gokudera didn't have time for that kind of attraction to anyone.

What he wanted to know was, what had made her change her style of wearing her uniform.

At first, when he had first seen the change he had had this suspicion that she had changed it because of him, but she had acted totally without any romantic attraction from the moment he had almost run her over.

When she had seen him she had had this look of weariness on her face. Any girl who really were crushing on him would have started blushing furiously and squealed loud enough for his eardrums to burst, but she had been silent.

When he had thrown her the helmet, telling her to get on, she had been confused. Where many girls would probably jump at the chance to ride behind him on his bike, she had been hesitant, cautious. She had surprised him when she had asked weather or not he was going to wear a helmet as well, clearly worried about his well being when they barely knew one another.

The last thing that had convinced him that she clearly wasn't crushing on him, was the way she had been hugging his torso on the way there.

Only her arms had been touching him, her hands had been locked at her forearms. She had been terrified during the ride over how fast he had been driving and she wanted something to hold on to, but she felt too awkward about touching him with her hands.

She was a girl from their class that wasn't crushing on him, or that baseball jock (their conversation from last Monday was far too casual and her performance back then didn't indicate that she was crushing on him either), and no matter how much of a refreshing change that was, he couldn't help but to wonder weather or not that was because she was crushing on someone else in the school or simply because she wasn't like all those girls actively seeking out romance.

Those regular girls wanted to be in a relationship so badly that they "fall in love" with the first attractive male they see, liking only their looks and not their personality.

Sawada Tsunako would one day fall in love, of that he was sure, but when she did it wouldn't be because of the person's looks, she would have most likely already known the guy for quite some time before she started developing _that_ kind of emotion.

He kept his eyes on Tsuna's retreating back until she disappeared into the building, then he allowed himself to get off the vehicle.

He wasn't worried about being late to the classroom, no teacher would dare to give him any punishment either way.

* * *

Tsuna arrived in the classroom with one minute to spare, panting heavily.

She had been expecting all the eyes suddenly on her when she entered through the door, but she ignored them, speed-walking to her desk and sat down, letting herself deflate over the surface in exhaustion.

Too much had happened in too short a time that morning.

She would never forget to set her alarm _ever_ again.

She groaned into the fold of her arms at her own thoughts.

A tap on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts.

Pealing herself off of her desk, turning in her chair to face Yamamoto Takeshi.

He smiled at her.

Funny... something about the way he smiled felt odd to her. It felt somewhat strained and forced, like he was pretending to be happy when in reality, he wasn't.

Why would he do that?

"Cutting it close aren't you Sawada?" he asked with an equally forced laugh.

The sad thing was, the rest of their classmates most likely wouldn't notice his performance. It was too good.

Ignoring the blaring alarm going off in her head at his fake emotion, Tsuna fiddles with the straps to her bag, feeling slightly awkward about how she had gotten to school on time.

"I got a ride..." she mumbled.

For a second, Yamamoto looked surprised at her words, then his expression morphed into a more realistic smile, it was still horribly fake but it was more genuine than the one he had been giving her earlier.

Tsuna found herself worrying.

What could possibly have brought on that look?

"Aren't you a lucky one?"

Tsuna really wouldn't call herself that. She was anything but lucky and most of the class knew that, but she didn't want to contradict him when he had that expression on.

"I guess..." was her quiet answer.

She turned back around, laying down on her desk once again.

The alarm in her head was beginning to give her a headache, she didn't want to keep seeing that expression.

Class started as scheduled, only interrupted once about five minutes into homeroom when Gokudera walked in through the door, hands in his pockets and looked every bit as violent and dangerous as he appeared to be.

But Tsuna knew differently.

After having experienced the true madness of one without the empathy for other fellow humans, Tsuna felt herself to be able to tell weather someone truly had frightening intentions.

And Gokudera was not like that.

* * *

The day went on as usual. Boring classes on which she mostly doodled her way through and a Lunch break where she once again thanked her mother for the absolutely wonderful meal she had prepared for her.

She had been mostly running on fumes during the last class and finally having something in her stomach was a great relief.

Gokudera hadn't been looking at her as much as he had been before, like the ride he had given her that morning had showed him whatever he was looking for and he didn't need to keep looking anymore. That alone was a huge weight off of her shoulders.

Everything had been going so smoothly that she had completely forgotten about those who had caused her absence to begin with.

She hadn't seen them so she didn't think about them.

Well, she was about too.

* * *

The last class of the day was P.E and the lesson for the day was track.

All the students had gathered outside on the field, stretching out their muscles before the running they were about to partake in. Yamamoto was of course one of the people more exited about what they were about to do but as Tsuna looked at him, the way he was moving his limbs looked funny, strained and uncomfortable.

Muscle-pains maybe?

If only she could get a closer look on those muscles...

She had this horrible suspicion about what might be wrong with him, she seriously hoped that she was wrong but she really, really wanted to make sure, if only to calm her own mind.

When they actually started running, Tsuna was surprised to find herself about to do more than just half a lap around the track.

She was on her second lap when she saw them.

There, standing on the inside of the woven fence surrounding the track field stood Sasagawa Kyoko, but that wasn't what had caught Tsuna's eye. It was the person on the other side of the fence, leaning towards Kyoko with a flirting look on his face.

Mochida Kensuke.

Tsuna absolutely froze.

She stopped running so suddenly that her classmates behind her almost ran straight into her, but they caught themselves before they did and ran around her in stead, they did throw questioning glances back at her when they passed though.

She just stood there, staring at the face that had haunted her dreams for the past almost three weeks, looking as if all the blood had drained from her face, leaving her as pale as a sheet of paper.

She looked sick.

Sick enough to collapse at any given second.

Her fingers twitched something uncontrollable, filling up with that familiar tingling sensation that sent off warning bells inside of her head, only she couldn't find herself able to register them. Dispite the alarm, her mind was filled with mush, not allowing her to do anything but stand there, staring at the young man as the tingling grew stronger and stronger.

One by one, her classmates were starting to notice her state. Some shared looks, silently questioning what was going on with their classmate.

Some had known her since middle-school and during all those years, they had never seen the girl so absolutely frightened as she did at that very moment.

Yamamoto had been on his fifth lap around the track when he saw her, and he picked up the pace to reach her.

Gokudera was drawing himself closer to her as well.

Oblivious to the two boys approaching her, Tsuna just kept staring at Mochida.

As if feeling her eyes on him, Mochida turned his eyes out towards the track as well as the girl with the messy golden-brown hair dressed in the white T-shirt and red sweatpants that all the girls were wearing, only when he saw her, his eyes flew wide in shock.

How the hell was that girl alive?

He had seen her spontaneously combust into flames for God's sake!

At meeting his eyes, Tsuna couldn't take it anymore.

Liquid fire roared through her veins next to her blood. If she didn't calm down soon, everyone would know just how much of a freak she was.

"Hey, Sawada." Yamamoto called out as he reached her side. Only he didn't get any response, not even a reaction to his presence.

What he did get, was her clenching her fists hard enough for her nails to dig into her palms before she suddenly turned around and bolted from the track faster than anyone had ever seen her run before.

Tsuna could practically feel the fire pushing from underneath her skin, begging to get out and burn everything around her. The rush of the fire was making her feel, her legs, her entire body feel lighter than it had before, allowing her to run faster and without burning as much energy as she had done when she was running around the track.

She didn't hear Yamamoto and a few other classmates screaming after her.

She kept running and running until she reached the ball shed. There, she let her body fall against the wall, hiding her from view of practically anything, falling to her knees as she breathed heavily through her mouth.

She could feel the tears prickling behind her eyes, weaving her fingers into her hair, messing it up even further as she tried to desperately force herself to calm down.

"Sawada?"

Tsuna looked up through the tears that had finally started to fall, right at Yamamoto towering over her with a concerned look on his face. A few other classmates were starting to gather up behind him, one of them being Gokudera, but she didn't notice any of them.

Carefully, Yamamoto crouched down in front of the girl, making sure to keep a safe enough distance between the two of them.

"What's wrong?"

In stead of answering him, Tsuna burried her face into her arm, clutching her knees close to her chest, very much like she had been sitting on her bed for two weeks before Reborn arrived and brought her out of it.

Her reaction seemed to anger Gokudera.

Growling lightly under his breath, the guy stalked forward, shoving his way through the whispering masses that were their other classmates heading towards the girl.

He recognized that reaction. He had seen what she had been looking at before this and taking this reaction into account... it could only mean one thing really, and the realization didn't sit well with him.

From what he knew about this girl, she really didn't deserve something like that.

Ignoring the baseball-idiot, he too crouched down in front of the crying girl, forcing himself to give her a calmer expression than the annoyed look he usually wore when in school.

Who could blame him really? He was already at elite university level in his I.Q.

"That guy back there..." his voice couldn't exactly sound gentle with how gravely it naturally was, but he made an attempt either way. His choice of words caused her shoulders to twitch. "Did he do something to you?"

All eyes turned on Gokudera, even Tsuna's.

She looked at the guy from over her arm, staring right into his eyes.

 _'Oh...'_ she thought, not taking her eyes off of him.

Intelligent and observant, the kind of guy it would be tough to keep secrets from.

He could probably decide to become a private detective and probably do pretty well.

Her look was the only thing Gokudera needed to know that he had been right in his assumption, but she wasn't just about to reveal it to the rest of the class.

She really didn't want anything to do with Mochida.

In stead, she glanced in the direction she had seen the object of her nightmares and one of the most lovely girls in the school. Not being able to see them of course but she felt the need to do so.

"What's his relationship with Kyoko-chan? She asked through the lump in her throat, her voice coming out small, weak, and a bit drowned by her tears.

This, quite clearly, lead to her classmates reaching the wrong conclusion as to the reason behind her tears.

Yamamoto awkwardly cleared his throat, scratching the back of his head with a look indicating that he was about to deliver some really, really bad news.

"Well... they're a couple."

Well, he was right about it being bad news, just for the wrong reasons.

Tsuna increasingly got more and more frightened, but not for her own sake but for Kyoko's.

The girl was too innocent, too sweet and kind to be with a monster like Mochida. Who knew what that man would do to the girl? He could positively break her, make her nothing but the lifeless shell of what she had previously been.

Tsuna's fingers tightened around her arms.

"How long have they been a couple?"

The rest of their classmates may have their minds clouded over by the belief that she was nothing but a heartbroken girl at the moment, but Gokudera wasn't as easily fooled.

Silently, he was impressed.

The girl had been violated, just saw the guy that had done it, and even though she was terribly frightened by reflex at the sight of him, most of the fear was for the girl that was currently in a relationship with the guy.

This girl could become so strong emotionally if she just got over the ground fear.

As Gokudera began began going through options in his head of ways the girl could possibly get over her fear, Yamamoto was bracing himself for the news he was about to break to the crying girl.

He really wasn't made for this kind of thing.

"About a week and a half now, since his buddied were admitted into the hospital."

Tsuna's eyes flew open, her legs slipped away from her chest as she stared up at Yamamoto is disbelief, jamming her hands into the ground she brought her face closer to his.

The tears were already starting to dry up.

"What?" she exclaimed, surprising the students around them.

They had not been expecting that.

Tsuna's mind was racing a million miles an hour.

Two out of three guys that had attacked her was in the hospital, gone from the school, leaving only the one that had left the most impression on her emotional state.

Why couldn't whatever that had gotten to the muscle-heads gotten to Mochida too?

Shaking his head off of the confusion, Yamamoto hesitated before he kept talking.

"Yeah..." he began slowly. "Apparently Mochida was pretty torn up about it and Sasagawa comforted him, they have been a couple ever since."

Tsuna highly doubted that Mochida could be torn up about anything, it had all probably been an act to get the attention from Kyoko's kind nature and thus getting close enough to woo her into going out with him.

Deep within Tsuna, a spark of anger flared up. It wasn't strong enough to override the fear, but it was still there, and it calmed down her facial expression.

Mochida was just sick.

Tsuna leaned herself back against the wall of the shed again, but she didn't bring her legs up to her chest. This, Yamamoto took as a sign that she had calmed down just enough to ask her what most of them probably wanted confirmation on.

"Sawada... do you like Mochida-sempai?"

The answer was quick, final and without any form of hesitation.

"I wouldn't touch him with a mile-long pole."

Was if just Yamamoto or was she glaring at him?

Apparently, she believed that the thought of her liking Mochida-sempai was preposterous enough for her to become angry, but she wasn't emotionally in control enough to bring forth that anger so all they got was something a little stronger than a light annoyance.

Getting down from her small burst of anger, Tsuna began drawing her knees up again, pressing herself further into the wall as she started rubbing her arms.

"If I had seen him at his graduation in stead of today... it would have been too soon." she muttered, closing her eyes to ward off the memory.

Finally, Yamamoto and the rest of the class had reached the same conclusion as Gokudera.

"Sawada... what did he do?"

It was about the same question Gokudera had asked, and somehow, they all knew that she wouldn't answer it that time either.

"I can't talk about it." she muttered, pressing her legs closer to her chest as if protecting herself from the prying looks of the people around her.

Yamamoto gave her a worried look.

"Sawada-" he tried, but the girl cut him off.

"No." she said, looking him straight in the eyes. "I really can't talk about it... I don't know what it'll do to my emotions." Yamamoto could see her nails digging into her arms, they would probably puncture her skin if he kept pressing her on the matter.

"Okay..." he gave.

At the baseball-idiot's words, Gokudera got off from the ground, looking down at the too with only a glint of hidden questions in his eyes, wondering what was going to happen now.

"Alright." Yamamoto said as he too got up from the ground. "Come on." he reached forward, grabbing hold of Tsuna's arms and pulled her to her feet.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she stumbled to regain her balance.

"I'm taking you to the infirmary." Yamamoto said as he began pulling her towards the school building. "You need a break."

For a moment, Tsuna was speachless, looking up at one of the school heart-throbs.

She could still see the strained lines in his smile, but it was less so than it had been before, more genuine.

It warmed her heart.

"Thank you." she muttered.

A little more of the strain melted from Yamamoto's face.

Really, she was such a sweet girl once you bothered to get to know her a little bit better.

The two left the rest of the small number of classmates standing by the shed, whispering to one another about what they believed Mochida had done.

"You think he raped her?"

"No, no he wouldn't have gotten that far... I think..."

"How horrible."

"To have experienced something like that."

And the whispering continued, steering towards what they should do about Kyoko's relationship with the man now that they knew what the man had done to one of their lesser attractive classmates. If he had tried to do something so horrible to Dame-Tsuna, what could he do to someone so innocent and lovely as Sasagawa Kyoko?

The thought frightened them beyond words.

As his classmates kept on whispering, Gokudera stared after the girl and the baseball-idiot with a thoughtful look on his face.

Finally, when the two had disappeared inside the building, he turned around and walked back to the track, leaving the group of whispering nuisances.

* * *

Tsuna came home that afternoon feeling absolutely drained.

She had somehow believed that she wouldn't have to actually see Mochida again until he graduated since she hadn't seen him since he graduated Middle-school. She had known he went to Namimori high-school but she hadn't actually seen him since that Friday three weeks ago.

The reminder of that day caused the tingling to rear back into the tips of her fingers.

She forced them down.

What made her even more weary was actually the fact that now, her whole class probably knew what Mochida had done to her, and so, it would only be a matter of time before the man finally decided to approach her, and then what would she do?

She had been surprised when, on her way past the gateposts of the school grounds, Yamamoto had run up to her, calling her name.

"Maybe I should walk you home." he had said. "We live down the same road anyway."

She knew what he was really hoping to accomplish by doing this, and the consideration really warmed her heart, but she hadn't wanted him to bother doing something like that for her when she had been able to walk home alone just fine the two days previously.

But then again, Mochida had probably not even known that she was alive the previous days so...

Anyway, the road home had been pretty uneventful to say the least, apart from the fact that she actually had someone to walk with, which was something that had never happened before in all of her years in the educational system.

Gokudera had passed them on his motorbike just after they left the school grounds, zooming past them as if he was late for something.

When she was finally home, Yamamoto had patted her on the head (what?) and told her that he would see her the next day before he continued walking.

Such a strange gesture, like a big brother patting the head of his little sister.

She shook her head of the strangeness and walked into her house, sighing heavily once she closed the door behind her, leaving back against the wood.

"Tsuna-chan!" her mother practically skipped into the hallway.

Running towards her daughter, Nana had a look of absolute excitement with a hint of giddiness.

If Tsuna hadn't known had mother and thus known that Nana acted like this practically all the time, she would have believed that her mother was tipsy.

Tsuna suppressed a groan.

"Who was that boy?" Nana asked, practically jumping up and down in excitement.

"Yamamoto-san." Tsuna answered tiredly. "He's a classmate."

Slowly, Tsuna stepped out of her shoes, pushing them with her feet to a proper enough position among the other shoes on the ground.

"A classmate that walks you home and pats you on the head?"

Tsuna really wasn't in the mood for this, and she made that point by walking straight past her mother and up the stairs, ignoring her mother's giggling and practically slammed her bedroom door shut once she was on the other side of it.

And there he stood.

Leaning against the wall next to her bed with his arms folded over his chest and a sick little smirk playing on his lips.

At least, that's what it looked like to her in her emotionally exhausted mind.

"You..." she growled under her breath.

She hadn't forgotten, or forgiven what he had done to her that morning.

That sick bastard!

Of course, she was too emotionally exhausted to actually show how absolutely furious she should be at the moment, but all she managed was a look of annoyance that could rival Gokudera.

"Okaeri." Reborn greeted, her look not affecting him in the least. In fact, his smirk grew even wider where he was standing. "Got to school on time alright?"

Annoyed, Tsuna stormed over to her closet, practically ripping open one of the doors.

"Yes, no thanks to you." she replied, shoving through the hangers for something, anything to change into after a good, long shower.

She didn't usually shower more than once every third day or so but now, even when she had showered that very morning, she felt like she was in desperate need of a cleaning.

She picked out an orange tube-top, high-waist jean shorts and a flower chiffon button-up blouse, she hung the articles over her arm before she turned back towards her tutor.

"I got a ride by one of my classmates."

She heard a low hum from the man.

"Well, that was nice of them." he pointed out as she walked over to her desk, picking up the toiletries she would be needing, especially those she didn't have time for that morning.

Perhaps she should brush her hair this time...

"It was..." she agreed, picking up her hair-brush after a moment of thought.

Brushing her hair would give her a few extra minutes away from the man who called himself her tutor.

She was just about to head out the door for the upstairs bathroom when Reborn spoke up again.

"Good job on controlling yourself by the way."

Tsunako almost dropped everything at his words.

"What?" she asked, her voice sounding almost panicked.

The smirk wiped itself off of Reborn's face as he pealed himself off of the wall, taking a few steps towards her whilst putting his hands into his pockets. He looked over her, letting his dark eyes wander over her body.

That look had always felt wrong to her.

"I wouldn't expect seeing the face of the man that called forth your fire to be a pleasant experience."

Tsuna could feel her legs weaken under her, almost giving way under her weight but she forced herself to remain standing.

She clutched her arms around the bundle she had collected into her arms.

"You were there?" her eyes drifted towards the ground, she shook her head in disbelief.

Then again... she couldn't exactly say she hadn't expected he would do something like this eventually.

The smirk returned to Reborn's face.

"Of course I was there, I'm your tutor." he said this as if this would explain everything, make everything alright. "I need to watch over you to make sure you do not loose control over your fire in the presence of the light ones."

There, Tsuna felt as if Reborn had somehow allowed himself to slip up.

"The light ones..." she repeated, feeling the frown forming on her eyebrows. "What do you mean by that?" she allowed her grip on the bundle to loosen a little.

For a moment, Tsuna felt as if Reborn was contemplating something.

Of course, his face wasn't showing any form of emotion, but she just felt like he was thinking about weather or not he was going to tell her something important.

After what felt like an eternity, Reborn finally reached his conclusion.

"That is a conversation for another time."

Tsuna didn't know why she suddenly felt so disappointed.

What could possibly be so secretive that he felt the need to keep it from her for a longer period of time, even though he obviously was supposed to tell her eventually?

Reborn shook his head at her questioning expression.

"Take your shower" he told her, turning towards the window. "We need to keep practicing."

And then there was nothing more to say about that conversation.

* * *

Tsuna was once again sitting on the table, actually looking more ruffled up than she usually did with her hair in a mess, with her now tangle-free hair hanging down just past her shoulders in thick, frizzy waves that made her hair look like a lions mane.

That was why she never brushed it, the tattered state her hair was in made it impossible to keep from tangling.

It would become messy again by the next morning.

Perhaps she should have her hair looked at by a professional or something, someone who could trip her hair in a way that got rid of all the tattered bits and still kept the length, thus making it more maintainable so she wouldn't have to go around with a birds nest on her head.

But then again... she didn't trust anyone but her mother close to her hair with a pare of scissors so that would never work...

She had been reaching inside of her for that distinct flickering sensation for almost half an hour now, but so far, absolutely nothing.

Finally, her exhausted emotions got the better of her.

"Just what is the point of doing this?" she asked, opening her eyes and turning her head in the direction of her tutor. Seriously, soon, he would grow stuck to that wall and then she would have to live with him being there in her bedroom 24/7.

Not a pretty thought.

Her question however, seemed to humor her tutor.

"You didn't think to ask that before?" he asked with a light chuckle.

Now that he mentioned it...

She had just accepted his exercise without questioning anything, not even why she was doing it. She had just done it.

"I..." she tried but she couldn't figure out anything to say to that.

Reborn chose that moment to take pity on her.

"No matter." he said, peeling himself off of the wall.

With a motion from Reborn, Tsuna moved to sit on the bed, he sat down next to her.

"You know that flickering feeling at the center of your chest?" he asked, looking at her as if daring her to tell him differently.

"Yes..."

Of course she did, she had been trying to grasp it for more than a week now.

"That is the core to the flames." he put a finger just above her cleavage, putting it right where said core should be found. "The figurative heart that pumps said fire through your body, through your veins." he let his hand drop, looking right into her eyes with his emotionless ones. "If you manage to take control of that..."

A light went on inside Tsuna's brain.

"I will be able to control how much fire is released into my bloodstream..."

Reborn nodded in confirmation.

"We cannot continue unless you get that control." suddenly, that smirk once again made it's way onto his face. She was really starting to hate that expression. "There are actually a certain few people that have managed to get control over their biological hearts."

Tsuna's eyes widened to their maximum capacity.

"You're kidding."

Reborn laughed at her.

"I most certainly am not." he insisted.

He threw a glance around him as if he suspected they were being watched before bending his head closer to hers. When he spoke again, it was with a lower voice that wasn't quite a whisper but the closest to one Tsuna had ever heard him use.

"They can walk around without their hearts actually beating in their chests." he said this like it was one of the most secret of secrets in the world.

But then again... how was she to know that it wasn't?

She frowned lightly.

"How..." she had meant to ask how the person kept his blood pumping when his/her heart wasn't, but Reborn cut her off by putting up a hand.

"Don't ask, you don't wanna know." he said, looking away from her. "It's quite unpleasant."

"So you know?" she asked, leaning forward a little, looking very much like an eager child begging her parent for something.

"Of course I know." Reborn straightened out his back, looking proud with himself.

Then, he was all business again.

"Now." he looked back at her, jerking his head towards the coffee-table. "You feel up to continuing?" he got up from the bed and stared at her expectedly.

On a normal day, this exercise wouldn't take that much out of her. She would be able to keep it up for like four hours before she demanded a break, but now...

She couldn't keep her concentration even if both tried and wanted to.

"Not really..." she mumbled, leaning back onto her arms.

In her mind, she prayed to everything holy that today would be one of the days that Reborn felt like being less of a sadist in the amount of time she spends either practicing or actually being tutored by him.

Those days were very rare, but a girl could hope.

Reborn just stood there for a moment, looking at her with hard eyes.

She closed her eyes, already giving up on her hopes, leaning back on her arms as she resigned herself to her fate.

"Well, I guess you did have an eventful time at school..." her eyes snapped back open. "I'll let you off for the rest of the day."

Turning her eyes back on him, Tsuna looked as if he had just told her that Christmas was arriving early that year and she was the first one to receive her presents.

"Thank you." she breathes as she let herself fall back onto the sheets of her bed.

Her happiness was crushed when she heard him chuckling.

"Don't thank me." he said. His dark voice booming over the walls of the room. "We will probably have to double the hours you practice if we're going to have some result before next year." she looked up at him just as he made his way towards her door. "I will give you the new schedule tomorrow."

He cast her an evil glint in his eyes before he disappeared behind the bedroom door.

Groaning loudly, Tsuna threw one of her arms over her eyes.

Was he trying to kill her?

* * *

 **A/N: Well, there you have it humans.**

 **Please tell me what you think and the next chapter WILL be out by nest Friday.**

 **Until then...**

 **Love you humans, and laters.**


	6. Target 6

**A/N: Alright human, I have noticed a little quirk to my writing that I would like to apologize for.**

 **I have no real transition when the point of view changes during a scene, it kind of just does. It's like, subconsciously, I change the point of view to the more interesting character that would give more insight to their personality and further the story in a less wooden way. And whilst that is a good thing to the story, the sudden change in point of view... I suspect that is very frustrating and kind of confusing if it happens often.**

 **That scene on the motorbike in the last chapter was supposed to be in Tsuna's point of view but somehow it became Gokudera's after a couple of sentences. The same with that first look of her exercises. That was supposed to be from Tsuna's point of view too, but it somehow morphed into Reborn's.**

 **So, I'm going to try and work on it, but before that, please bear with the inconsistent point of views in this storry.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **Target 6:**

 **Suspicions**

What had she gotten herself into?

Tsuna asked herself that very important question as she found herself standing in front of the one room in the entire building that everyone knew meant certain death.

The reception room.

Tsuna could feel the tingles build up in the tips of her fingers, but she felt like she needed to do this and so, she took a deep breath, swallowed her fear and rapped on the door with a just slightly trembling hand.

For a long moment, nothing was heard from the inside, then:

"Enter."

Gulping, Tsuna put her hand on the door-handle and pushed it open.

The room was very properly arranged, with two couches facing one another on either side of a coffee-table in front of a mahogany desk with a comfortable looking office chair behind it. Dark curtains hung in front of the large windows and the walls were lined with bookcases and other drawers for files and other important papers.

In the office-chair, sat the person that had practically taken over the principals position of power, looking through a file.

The light was dimmed but everything was visible enough.

Looking up from the file, Hibari Kyoya locked his steel-gray eyes with hers.

A frown made it's way onto his face as he put down the file.

"Herbivore." his voice held an air of confusion. Getting up from his chair, he walked over to where she was still standing in the doorway. "Why are you here?"

Was she imagining, or was there a hint of hope in those usually cold gray eyes?

Shaking her head, she laced her fingers together in an attempt to calm down her nerves.

"I found out yesterday that the two friends of one Mochida Kensuke were admitted into the hospital some time ago..." she managed to force herself to look up at his face as she said this, fidling with her fingers with each word that slipped through her lips.

Hibari Kyoya wasn't that tall in comparison to Gokudera, but just like the other boys she had come to know, the man I front of her was attractive. With his lightly ruffled black hair falling down to his jaw with long finges falling around his eyes, his narrowed eyes and slanted eyebrows, prominent cheekbones and otherwise pointed features. He was handsome in a sophisticated manner.

So many different ways to be handsome.

Hibari's expression turned mildly confused.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest, piercing her with those eyes that had the whole school shivering in their seats.

"Why should that concern you?" he asked, straightening out his back as if trying to make himself appear taller than he actually was.

She couldn't even attempt or force herself to look at him anymore. Her fingers unfolded in order for her to be able to grab her upper-arms, rubbing them to try and force herself to to calm down in order for her to properly deliver what she is supposed to say.

Hiding the true reason from someone like Hibari was not a good idea so she had to be honest from the first very moment.

"They..." she was too busy looking at the ground, trying to gather her thoughts to notice the slightly worried look that made it's way onto the prefects face.

Finally, she decided to just say it, ripping it off like a bandaid.

"They assaulted me." her fingers tightened around her arms. "About three weeks back..." slowly, she raised her head to glance up at the prefect. She was visibly shaking where she was standing, her nails almost breaking her skin. "I just want to know what happened to them."

The second Tsuna had mentioned them assaulting her, Hibari's light worry had turned to down-right furry. Tsuna suspected that he was furious that someone going to their school was that inhumane that he would actually take advantage of a girl like that.

Hibari may be considered the demon of the school, but he had very strong morals that he didn't break for anything. Like aiming below the belt, permanently maim weaker opponents, and abuse the fairer gender in a sexual manner. Those are only few of the rules he followed, but they were the rules he held highest and were most important to him.

So when he heard that someone had tried to take advantage of one of the females in his school.

That someone had tried to take advantage of _Sawada Tsunako_... it took everything in him not to storm out of that room and march straight to the hospital and castrate those two with the two of them awake and looking at what he was doing.

But he couldn't do that.

The girl wanted answers.

"I see..." he muttered, turning away from the girl so that she wouldn't see the true extent of his current emotion.

It wouldn't do if she did.

"I shall take note of that for later." he wandered over to the drawers on the right side of the room, reaching out a hand to take the handle when he thought of something.

He turned back to face the still shaking girl.

"Sit down." he ordered in an albeit gentle manner but it still served to make the girl jump before hurriedly sitting down on one of the couches of the room, drawing in her neck and shoulders to try and make herself as small as possible.

Usually, he would find such behavior humorous. But this was Sawada Tsunako, and everything about him was different when she was concerned.

Quickly, he shook himself of those thoughts, those thoughts that made him behave very much like a pathetic herbivore and practically ripped the drawer open. The sound of which was loud enough to once again make the girl jump where she was sitting.

He forced himself not to care.

It didn't take much rifling through the files in the drawer before he came across the ones he needed. With the two files in hand, he walked round the coffee-table to sit down in front of the trembling girl. It really was a wonder how she hadn't fallen apart with how much she was shaking.

He sighed before he threw the first folder onto the table, successfully startling the girl enough to jerk her head up from it's previous downward direction.

"Kudou Ranmaru 2-D." he spoke, naming the more beefed up muscle-minion that Mochida Kensuke had dragged into his little gang. "And Akisuki Makoto 2-A," as he said the name of the other muscle-minion, he threw the other folder down. He leaned back against the cushioned seat, resting his upper arm along the back of the couch, his forearm hanging limply in the air. He looked at the girl, searching for her reaction as he continued. "They were both found brutally beaten half to death in an alley three blocks from here Tuesday after school."

The herbivore hesitated before she picked up the folders, looking through them. He took notice on how her eyes widened as she looked over what he assumed were the pictures taken of the scene. She looked disgusted.

"If I remember correctly." Hibari continued talking, "That was the second day you were absent."

At his words, the herbivore tore her eyes away from the folders.

She looked somewhat terrified, but there was a layer to her emotions, he just couldn't seem to pinpoint what the other layers were.

"I needed time..." she muttered as she returned her gaze towards the folders.

"I understand that." and he did. He even silently commended the girl for looking as collected as she did despite being in his presence and looking at the photographs of the two who had done the act to begin with.

Feeling that he had done whatever she had asked for, he stood up.

"Are you satisfied with the answer?"

He watched as the girl brushed her hair behind her ear, carefully folded the folders once again and placed them on the table in an orderly fashion.

"Yes." she answered silently, thought she was still shaking under his gaze.

Then, he noticed her fingers flex, her mouth opening once before she closed it, only to open it again with the words she had left unspoken just seconds previously.

"Just one more thing..."

She managed to gather up enough courage to look up at him, allowing him to lock her light brown eyes with his cold-gray ones.

He nodded for her to continue.

"Did you find the person who did it?"

The way she said it... it was like she had an idea about who it could have been, but she didn't want that person to be caught.

Just who could she be protecting?

His one eyebrow raised, Hibari answered her honestly.

"No."

She looked away from him, once again brushing her hair behind her ear even though it was already behind it. Must be some sort of nervous habit. She nodded in understanding.

"I see..." he noticed how her hands tightened into fists around the fabric of her skirt before she swallowed. She stood up from the couch and faced him fully.

"Well..." she muttered before she bent her back forward in a low bow. "Thank you... Hibari-san."

Hibari stopped himself from reaching out a hand towards her.

He didn't want her to bow to him, even if it was in gratitude, and that was not the name he wanted to hear her call him, but he couldn't voice that thought. It would only confuse and possibly frighten her.

Just as she turned around to leave the room, Hibari spoke up again.

"There's more to that story isn't there?" his words caused her to freeze with her hand half-way to the door-handle.

Stiffly, she turned her head slightly in his direction.

"What?"

Eyes narrowed, Hibari took a few steps towards her.

"Your assault." he saw how her shoulders tensed up even more, but she also clenched her fists tightly in a way that the tip of her thumb was hidden under the fold of the rest of her fingers. Almost as if she was hiding it. That's strange. "There's more to it than just the two of them attacking you is it not?" he was standing a few feet from her now, staring at her slightly turned head, the little bit of face that should be visible was unfortunately covered by her birds-nest for hair.

His eyes turned to her shoulders at the indication of a deep breath.

"There is." she answered, her voice surprisingly clear for a girl with her personality. "But I have a feeling that a certain someone wants me to deal with it myself." when she said the word 'someone' she dragged it out, pronouncing it with a tone of annoyance that was so out of character for her that it surprised him.

Interesting.

She cleared her head before she turned her head back.

"Good day, Hibari-san."

This time, she manages to close her hand around the handle before he spoke up again.

"Herbivore."

There must have been something in his voice when he said that word because she turned her whole body half-way towards him, her hand still on the door-handle.

"Yes?" she asked, sounding a bit miffed.

He could see why.

He was known for being a loaner, not liking being around anyone unless he was thirsty for a good right of giving someone a beating. And now, he had kept her from leaving the room twice.

However, he did have a reason.

"It's been eleven weeks since you got shot." he said, causing her to raise her eyebrows.

He had kept track of the time.

He had to admit, when he thought back on it, that was kind of creepy.

"Is everything functioning normally?" he moved his eyes over her boy pointedly as an indication. He met her eyes again, finding them clouded in confusion and just the tiniest glimmer of joy, where the joy came from he really couldn't say.

"Yes..." she answered slowly, the hint of a smile forming on her lips. "Everything is functioning better than it ever has in fact."

Oh, so _that_ was why she was happy.

He had to stop himself from smiling. If she was hinting on what he thought she was hinting at, then her life must have become so much better than it ever has.

How could he not be happy for her?

He nodded at her answer, and with a dismissive flick of his hand, the girl opened the door and disappeared from the room, leaving him alone among his books and papers.

For the first time in a long while, the room felt just a bit _too_ lonely.

He had barely gotten back to his desk when there back a knock on the door again. Only, in stead of waiting for his permission, the knocker stepped inside.

There was only one person that had the authority and guts to do something like that.

"Kyo-san." Kusakabe Tetsuya greeted him before he glanced back towards the door.

Pointing over his shoulder with his thumb, the second-in-command turned back towards his superior and (funnily enough) best friend.

"Was that..." he couldn't force himself to finish the sentence.

"It was." Hibari answers him, looking back at the door.

Only someone who knew Hibari was well as Tetsuya did could have ever seen the hidden disappointment and longing in his cold gray eyes.

"She still remembers nothing."

* * *

When Tsuna came home that afternoon (after having said goodbye to Yamamoto at the gates), she was greeted by her mother, telling her one thing that made her day just so much better.

Her dresser had finally arrived!

She had just about forgotten that she had even ordered that thing.

Apparently, it had gotten temporarily lost in shipping as it was supposed to have arrived just a few days after the shelves did, but it had arrived now and thus finally, finally, Tsuna would be able to get her room completely tidied up and organized since she ran out of storage space somewhere during her last year of middle-school.

Why did she start collecting things again?

She couldn't remember.

Rushing up to her bedroom, she practically threw open the door and there it stood, her dresser, still covered in the packaging but she would soon change that.

Rolling up her figurative sleeves, Tsuna ignored the light tingling at the tips of her fingers and marched right up to the piece of furniture.

She spent about ten minutes ripping off the packaging before she could finally gaze upon her new, beautiful, mahogany dresser that stood tall with a mirror attached to it's top. She smiled at the lacquered surface, but frowned at the dirtied state of the mirror.

She would have to deal with that later.

Now, it was time to put the thing in place.

She moved the full-body mirror from it's previous position, placing it in stead between the desk and the wall on which the closet was built into.

She made sure that the floor in the line between the newly cleared wall on the left of the door and the dresser was cleared of any discarded clothing, accessories, make-up or art-supplies/stationary before she took probably the deepest breath she had taken in a long while.

This was going to be tough with her small stature.

Putting her hands on the dressers front, she started pushing.

The thing was heavy, but that was to be expected. And so, twenty minutes and four short breaks later, Tsuna finally managed to push the thing up against the wall. She had to lean against it as she breathed out her exhaustion so she wouldn't collapse onto the floor.

"Okay..." she muttered to herself. "Perhaps... a longer break is in order."

She managed to drag herself over to the bed and there, she collapsed onto the mattress. She fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

Fortunately, she didn't sleep that long.

Just about an hour and a half later, Tsuna woke up to an absolutely heavenly smell.

Opening her eyes, Tsuna raised her head to look out over her still pretty messy bedroom, and her face broke out into an appreciative smile when she saw what stood on the coffee-table.

A pitcher of pear juice, a glass, three sandwiches and a small plate of what could only be freshly baked lemon-buns if the smell was anything to go by.

"Thank's mom..." she mumbled through her half-asleep daze.

Rubbing her eyes, Tsuna forced herself out of bed again.

She wasn't finished yet, the room was still a mess.

Deciding to same the buns for later, Tsuna drank one glass of the juice and ate the sandwiches. Then, with a determined look in her eyes that once again sent the tingles raging through the tips of her fingers, she began gathering up the packaging from the floor, throwing it away before she could really make some changes to the storing arrangement to her room.

The underwear, socks, leg-wear and winter/autumn accessories that had previously been stashed in the drawers of her desk, filling it up and thus forcing Tsuna to store most of her stationaries either on the floor or on a mountain on her desk, but now, with the desk drawers empty, she could organize her collection of art supplies in a way that she wouldn't have to dig through other things to get to what she wanted.

With her desk in order, Tsuna turned towards her floor.

Her hands on her hips, she took a deep sigh to prepare herself for what she was about to do.

She had gathered up all of her shoes before she realized that their place was already occupied by her paintings, but she managed to find her way around that by sliding them into the half-meter distance between the dresser and the wall, creating a make-shift canvas storage. Then, she put all of her shoes onto the shoe-shelf mounted on the wall at the back of the closet.

With the shoes gone, she gathered up all of her hats, stacking them on top of the dresser (she polished the mirror clean before doing this). Gathering up the rest of her accessories she sorted them into the dresser, filling up the majority of the drawers before she could move onto the very last thing she needed to put in place.

Make-up.

Carefully placing all her cosmetics next to her hats, Tsuna silently complemented herself on just how orderly she can really be.

Then, when she was done, she looked out over her still stain and dust covered floor.

Well... that would have to be taken care of wouldn't it?

And so it was, that forty minutes later, Tsuna was spinning on her desk chair whilst munching on a well earned lemon bun, and feeling quite proud of herself as she inspected her freshly scrubbed floors of her bedroom.

She actually had a floor!

Really, she had way too many things.

She had everything a teenage girl could ever ask for, and she had never used half of what her father had sent her.

She had just decided to get up from the chair when the door opened, almost slamming into her new dresser as Reborn walked inside.

Seeing the state of her room, Reborn raised one of his eyebrows in what Tsuna translated as a relatively impressed expression.

"Not bad." he commented, closing the door behind him.

"A clean bedroom..." he put his hands into his pockets as he pierced her with his gaze. "Now you just need to clean yourself up and you can actually appear to be a healthy young woman and not a sloth."

She groaned loudly.

Of course he would say that. That man was never happy with anything.

But then again... why should she care what he thought? She had cleaned up her bedroom for her own sake, not anyone else's, and definitely not to please her tutor.

Said tutor was slowly revealing himself to be a green-blooded sadist.

* * *

The next day at school went by without any form of interruptions or encounters with the man that still haunted her.

In fact, she hadn't even seen him since that day at the track. Something she was actually quite happy about. But she couldn't help but to feel that these days of piece was just counting down for something large and life-changing.

Something even more life-changing than getting shot in the stomach and almost raped on the way home from school.

She couldn't say that she was looking forward to that.

That day, during history class, they were given an assignment to write an essay on the French revolution, only the books didn't provide them with enough material to write more than one page, and they needed three to get a passing grade.

And so, Tsuna took it upon herself to go to the closest and most reliable source.

The school library.

She had expected more from her class to have the same idea, but when she got to the room, there was almost no one there, apart from a few of the biggest bookworms of the school.

Well... the essay wasn't due until next week, but Tsuna knew that Reborn wanted her to finish it as quickly as possible, so she set to work.

She had managed to gather up three books that could tell her more than the textbook did, but she still felt that she needed to know more about one Axel Von Fersen, who was a Sweedish duke? She couldn't be sure since the books she had gathered so far didn't speak much about him apart from his apparent relationship with the queen during the time of the revolution.

When she had asked the librarian, the only book that apparently had more on him was on the top shelf in the history section, and the top shelf meant that one needed a ladder in order to reach it. Why the school had so tall shelves to begin with, Tsuna would never know.

She had never liked the library ladders.

They weren't the most stable of ladders and had a reputation to suddenly slide away from the place the climber wanted to be unless someone else was at the bottom to hold it in place. This had often caused incidents where students had fallen off and broken a bone or two.

Tsuna had to spend a whole minute just staring at the thing before she managed to force herself into grabbing it and climb up.

The ladder had been shaking the whole time as she ascended. Her fingers were roaring with tingles by the time she reached the shelf but she tried to push them down the best she could.

Running her finger along the spines of the books, she tried to find the book she needed, and she succeeded.

However, once she had the book in her hand, only holding onto the ladder with one hand, the ladder gave away a violent jerk that sent the book flying out of her hand, and not only that. With her already poor balance, Tsuna's feet slipped out from under her, causing her to loose her grip on the ladder and fall backwards.

Letting out a loud scream, Tsuna squeezed her eyes shut as she awaited the pain that would follow the impact on the concrete floor.

Only... in stead of impacting on the floor, the only impact she felt was at the back of her knees and just below her shoulder-blades. She bounced violently enough for her to instinctively trow up her arms. Only, she didn't expect for her arms to wrap themselves around what felt like a neck.

Confused, she blinked her eyes open.

She found herself staring straight into the olive-green eyes of Gokudera Hayato, their faces only inches away from one another from the way her arms were wrapped around his neck.

For reasons Tsuna couldn't imagine, Gokudera had caught Tsuna mid-fall. She was now lying bridal-style in his arms, staring right at his face that apparently had frozen in a permanent annoyed scowl.

Their close proximity to one another made the sheer amount of nerves rushing through her body almost unbearable.

It was worse than butterflies in her stomach.

She had never been that close to a human male before. Well, if she excluded that time just a few days ago where she had clung onto the torso, pressing herself into the back of the very same young man holding her at the very moment, she could at least safely say that this was the closest she had ever gotten to the face of a boy the same age as her.

She swallowed heavily, loosening her arms slightly to increase their distance.

"T-thank you..." she stuttered under her breath, turning her head away from him.

She could never be more thankful to the fact that the library was almost empty so that no one could actually see the predicament she had found herself in.

If someone had seen her that close to one of the schools most popular guys... things would get pretty messy.

Gokudera let out an annoyed growl, shaking his head as he set Tsuna down in a relatively gentle manner, just ensuring that she stood steady on her own two feet before he let go of her.

"Are you just, prone to accidents or something?" Gokudera asked as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and leaned back against the shelf. He was practically glaring at her.

Tsuna brushed her hair behind her ear, her face twisting into an embarrassed expression as she tried to look anywhere but at him.

"Yes..." she answered honestly as she bent down to pick up the book she had dropped. Hugging said bound pile of papers to her chest, Tsuna took a few steps back from the young man, the awkward levels rising between the two of them. "K-kind of..."

Gokudera groaned, shaking his head in frustration.

"I can't believe you're the one..." he mumbled, but it was so silent that Tsuna just barely picked it up.

"T-the what?" she asked, even though her nerves told her not too.

He didn't answer her.

In stead, he just growled again, rolling his eyes before he stalked away from the scene, leaving her there clutching her book to her chest.

She stared after him.

She really couldn't understand Gokudera Hayato. One minute, he could be one of the most frighteningly angry people in the school, with his frowning expression and otherwise delinquent attitude. But every now and then, Tsuna would spot more gentleman like features in the way he acted. Like he doesn't pick on people weaker than him, and he just wouldn't allow a girl to land painfully on the floor if he could do something about it.

Yes. She wasn't the first one he had caught. He was actually known for catching girls when they fall, but only when the fall is accidental.

There was this one time when one of their female classmates fell on purpose just so that she could get the chance to be close to him. Only he didn't catch her.

When asked why, his response had been:

"I don't bother with attention-seeking sluts."

It was like he had two personalities, two of which he just couldn't decide between.

Tsuna couldn't help but to think back on how it had felt to be held up by him. Her body practically burned where his skin had touched hers (figuratively of course).

 _'Huh... so that's what that felt like...'_ she thought to herself as she steered back towards the table where she had left the rest of her books.

She took a mental note to try not to think about what just happened again.

She didn't quite like that burning sensation.

* * *

Just a few minutes later, Tsuna walked out of the school building, her arms holding onto her now heavy school-bag to try and lessen the amount of weight her shoulder would be forced to carry should she carry her bag the way she usually did.

She was passing the baseball field when a sound reached her ears.

 _ **WACK!**_

She paused in her steps.

If she knew the time right, then all clubs should have ended for the day. Who could possibly still be training at this hour?

She turned her attention out to the field. And there he was.

Yamamoto Takeshi.

The pitching machine was on, sending ball after ball hurling towards the school athlete with great speed, and the athlete hit each and every one with a precise swing.

 _ **WACK!**_

Tsuna was quite impressed at his dedication and ability, but there was something in the way that he swung his bat that made her frown.

It was clunky, forced, not as smooth as it usually were from when she had seen Yamamoto play during games.

When she looked at his face, she saw his face flinch in pain every time he swung his arm.

Her fingers tightened around the links of the woven fence.

This wasn't good...

* * *

 **A/N: And there you have it humans, my third shortest chapter yet but I hope you enjoyed reading it.**

 **Just a little tippet, I am not making this a harem story as that has been done to death. I have set out solid pairings for specific characters and you'll just have to guess your way to which one is going to be paired up with which.**

 **This upload was a celebration on my 100th review, so I figured that I would tie my uploads to the amount of reviews I recieve. I can't exactly know what you humans think of this story unless you tell me and I want to know. No, I need to know if I'm going to keep writing this, to keep motivate myself to keep writing.**

 **The uploads may not become as regular as before, but as I have reached the end of my pree-written chapters, that may give me the time to catch up.**

 **Once I have caught up, I may return the updates to Friday.**

 **Laters.**


	7. Target 7

**A/N:** **I thank you all for the tremendous positive response.**

 **This is probably the first story I can honestly say I'm really, really dedicated to.**

 **This is the first time I have been able to keep writing on a fanfiction even if my interest is currently on a different series all together.**

 **So, thank you all for reading and reviewing.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 7:**

 **Conversations in the afternoon**

Friday to Sunday had been pretty much just exercise upon exercise for Tsuna.

Reborn had practically locked her up in her bedroom the moment she came home from school and forced her to start reaching inside of her for that flickering sensation that hasn't gotten any stronger since she began searching for it and thus, she had no more success in grasping it than she had all the previous times she tried.

By the time Monday came round, she was emotionally exhausted.

She walked through the halls of the school with her head having from her shoulders. Her hair even messier than usual because she hasn't showered for four days now.

Reborn only let her leave the room for bathroom breaks and food, so showering was out of the question.

Her skin itched due to the dried sweat that covered her body.

As she walked past larger groups of students, she couldn't help but to overhear a few words of what they were talking about, but she didn't react until she heard her unfortunate nickname whispered between a large group of students from a class parallel to her own.

"Look, it's Dame-Tsuna."

She couldn't help but to stop once she had rounded a corner to hear what they were saying.

"Didn't she look kind of... worn out?"

"I would be surprised if she didn't. Haven't you heard?"

Tsuna's eyes slowly widened.

They couldn't be talking about _that_ , could they?

"Heard what?"

"Well, apparently, Mochida-sempai raped her on the way home from school a few weeks ago."

Tsuna positively stopped breathing.

She had been expecting this, ever since that small group of classmates discovered it that Wednesday during P.E. But actually hearing the rumors developed from it...

It was almost too much.

"Seriously?"

Tsuna found herself unable to leave, even if the words spoken were making her feel even more exhausted than she already were.

"Yes!"

"I have a friend in her class, and apparently, Dame-Tsuna had a nervous breakdown last Wednesday when she saw his face during P.E."

"Who knows what he did to her."

"That bastard!"

Tsuna's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Before the bullet-incident, these very people had bullied her along with the rest of the school, and now they reacted so violently angry when they heard about someone attacking her sexually.

It was too strange to comprehend.

Apparently, she wasn't the only one thinking that way.

"Guy's, this is Dame-Tsuna we're talking about."

There was a second in which no one spoke.

"Are you saying she deserve to be raped?"

"No... I'm saying that-"

"It doesn't matter what you mean, and it doesn't matter who Mochida-sempai did it too. The fact that he touched a girl without her consent is despicable!"

"Tsuna has had enough shit thrown at her anyway, she doesn't need rapists after her as well."

Tsuna brushed her hair behind he ear, leaning her head against the wall.

People outside her class were defending her, if only a little bit.

It felt so strange.

"And now, Mochida-sempai is dating Sasagawa-chan."

"Should we do something about it?"

"We will."

"I say I revoke Mochida-sempai's man privileges!"

Tsuna couldn't keep listening anymore.

Shaking her head, Tsuna pushed herself off of the wall, continuing down the hallway towards her own classroom. All the while her mind was buzzing with what she had just overheard.

* * *

Tsuna had tried to keep her mind off of what she had heard the whole day.

As the day had progressed, Tsuna had payed more and more attention to her classmates. How they would whisper to one another before looking at her.

She really should pay more attention to her classmates after big reveals.

Personally, Tsuna blamed Reborn for her recent case of scatter-brain as his training made her too exhausted to pay attention to the world around her like she used to.

She couldn't remember the last time she had been allowed to hold a paint-brush.

Thankfully, there was such a thing as art-class.

Feeling absolutely content, Tsuna cleaned her brush in order to change the dark blue that she had just been using to add depth to the sea-shore she was currently in the middle of painting.

Art-class was the only class she actually missed during her absence as it was the only class she knew she could pass with flying colors, as well as the only class where the teacher loved her for her artistic skills.

Tsuna was in the middle of mixing together a bit of blue with white to create shadows to the sea-foam lining the still non-existent beach when the bell rang.

Tsuna would have probably groaned had this not been the last class of the day.

She could stay for longer if she told the teacher she wanted to finish her project before she went home.

Andou-sensei was an understanding woman in her early thirties. She wouldn't force Tsuna to go home as she was dedicated to the craft.

The sound of hands clapping forced Tsuna out of her creative trance.

"Can I have your attention before you leave?" Andou-sensei called out from the front of the classroom.

All eyes turned towards the teacher.

Andou-sensei was a bit short, with long dark-brown hair braided down her back. She also happened to be in the earlier stages of pregnancy so she would soon take a leave and the school would have to hire a substitute teacher.

It was a shame really, Andou-sensei was a really good teacher.

"I am going to give you an assignment." this made the majority of the class groan, especially those who didn't have that much time on their hands.

"I know, I know." Andou-sensei said with a wave of her hand, dismissing the class's response as if it was nothing but a fly. "You are to make a canvas painting, and turn it in on Monday two weeks from now." she put her hands on her hips, giving each and every groaning student a stubborn look. "That will be plenty of time, will it not?"

"Yes." the class mumbled as one.

"Good." Andou-sensei smiled. "You are to paint a portrait of your best friend. How's that for an assignment?"

This got a better response as the class immediately began buzzing. Friends looked at one another and started setting times and places for where they should make their paintings, completely ignoring the devastated expression that had plastered over Tsuna's face.

Honestly, Tsuna felt snubbed.

The last art-assignment of the year, and she wouldn't be able to make it.

She didn't have any best friend, let alone a friend in general that she could ask to model for her.

The heavy feeling that overcame her almost made her put her brush in the wrong place.

Thankfully, she managed to stop her hand before it ruined her project.

How was she going to do her assignment if she didn't have a model?

Could she paint her mother?

No, that wouldn't look good...

She definitely couldn't paint Reborn, she wouldn't hear the end of it and she definitely didn't see that green-blooded sadist as her best friend.

She had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the rest of the class filing out of the classroom, leaving her alone, sitting in front of her easel with her paint-brush raised in the air, but her arm wasn't moving.

She was like a statue.

"Sawada-san?" the questioning voice brought Tsuna out of her state of shock.

Lowering her hand, Tsuna turned her attention towards Andou-sensei.

"Shouldn't you be making your way home?" the kind teacher asked, peering behind Tsuna to see her painting behind her.

Tsuna looked back at the painting herself.

"I'd kind of like to finish this first." she proved her point by brushing her hand up again and added some of the light blue where it was needed.

Amano-sensei smiled.

"Take your time then." the teacher turned around and walked over to the door, throwing a look over her shoulder before she opened it. "I look forward to seeing your assignment work Sawada-san." and with that, the teacher was out of the room.

Tsuna once again, let her brush drop.

"Too bad you won't get it."

* * *

Tsuna stayed int the school building until 17:45, at which point she hurried back home, clutching her bag all the way.

She didn't relax until she was behind her front door.

"Tsuna-chan?"

Nana's voice echoing from the kitchen, forcing Tsuna to step away from the door.

She was just about to take her shoes off when her mother stepped in.

"Don't take your shoes off."

"Why..?" Tsuna asked, looking up from where she had already loosened the fastenings of her right shoe.

"I need a few things for dinner." Nana said, holding up a folded piece of paper. "I forgot to bye them earlier today."

"Mom..." Tsuna groaned, straightening herself out. "I just got back."

"Yes." Nana agreed. "And you're the one who still has her shoes on." she put her one hand on her hips all the while wiggling the piece of paper in front of her daughter's face.

Tsuna let out an even longer groan.

Snatching the paper from her mother's fingers, she fished her wallet from her school bag and turned back around towards the door without even looking at the contents of the paper.

She was in too bad a mood for that.

"I'll be back in about an hour..." Tsuna muttered, opening the door again and disappearing into the suburban streets.

Nana stared after her daughter even as she door closed behind her.

She sighed, putting the palm of her hand against her cheek.

"I wonder if this really was such a good idea..."

* * *

Tsuna had underestimated the amount of groceries her mother wanted her to get.

Fifty minutes after Tsuna had set out to get the items on her mother's list, she walked out of the grocery store, struggling to get a good grip on the three large paper bags she would have to carry all the way home.

She groaned under the weight.

"Great..." she muttered to herself.

Perhaps it hadn't been such a great idea to add her own things to that list. However, she also felt like she deserved to indulge herself after all the training Reborn had put her though since he arrived so she would just have to suck it up and pray to everything beautiful and clean in the universe that the bags wouldn't break before she got home.

The quickest way home from the grocery store would be to cut through the park, so with her arms starting to burn more and more with each passing second, she headed through the gate-posts and followed the paved road through the greenery.

She hadn't gotten far when a very distinct sound reached her ears.

The sounds of fists pounding on another human being, mixed in with the occasional groan in pain and after the sound of something tearing, a yelp of pain.

The sound was coming from behind a concrete wall.

Setting the bags down on the closest bench, Tsuna slowly crept up to the wall, pressing her back up against the concrete as she peered around the end. And her eyes widened at what she saw.

A group of what looked like fifteen large, muscled men in what appeared to be from their early twenties to late thirties were taking turns beating up a guy her age.

A guy with a familiar head of silver hair.

Now, normally when she saw things like this, Tsuna tended to close her eyes and pretend that she hadn't seen anything. But she found that she couldn't do that this time.

Gokudera had helped her one too many times for her to feel right doing something like that.

She needed to do something.

Brushing her hair back, Tsuna fished her cell-phone out of her pocket. Scrolling through her audio collection, she bit her lip before she closed her eyes.

Praying to God that her idea would work, she pressed play.

Immediately, the distinct sound of police sirens rang through the air at a low volume. Looking at the crowd of delinquents, Tsuna slowly raised the volume, causing it to grow louder and louder, sounding just like a police car getting closer and closer.

She bit her lip, hoping the delinquents would fall for her trick.

She had been able to fool a group of five at most before, but this was more than fifteen people. One of them could probably realize that it was a trick and then she would get involved in whatever Gokudera had been caught up in.

The thought sent the tingles roaring into the tips of her fingers.

Thankfully, her prayers had been answered.

Apparently, the whole group was made up of idiots. The second the sound of the sirens reached their ears, they stopped what they were doing, freezing in their punching before they looked at one another, and scattered. Leaving a beaten Gokudera to stumble before slowly sinking down onto the ground.

Tsuna noticed how he was clutching his left forearm.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, Tsuna forced down the tingling sensation before she turned off the sirens, knowing that the delinquents must have gotten quite far by now.

Slowly, she made her way over to her battered classmate.

"Gokudera-kun?" she asked gently once she was standing only a few feet away.

The teenager tensed before turning his head towards her.

An angry scowl spread across his face.

"What are you doing here?" he snarled, his fingers clenching around the fabric of his upper arm.

It wasn't until at that moment that Tsuna noticed the blood seeping through his fingers.

The tingling feeling absolutely died as worry replaced the fear in her bloodstream.

Not thinking, Tsuna scurried over to the silverette's side, crouching down in front of him with concern written all over her face.

"You're bleeding." she noted, stretching out her hand towards his arm.

Gokudera jerked his arm away from her.

"I noticed that you idiot." he growled through gritted teeth. "That's what happens when you're slashed by a knife."

Ignoring his tone, Tsuna reached forward once again. Grabbing hold of his non-injured arm, Tsuna yanked the teenager to his feet, using all the strength she had acquired from pushing her new dresser in place a few days ago.

Alright, so she didn't get that much strength from doing that, but it was enough to raise a battered and injured teen to his feet.

"We need to get that treated." she said as she began pulling him towards the bench where she had left her bags.

* * *

This was, by far, the strangest thing Gokudera had ever experienced.

Not getting beaten up by a larger group of men, no, that happens quite frequently due to his habit of not being able to keep his mouth shut when his temper flares up. No, what confused him was the fact that this pathetic, fragile girl (the same girl that used to develop a nervous stutter whenever he's near by) was determinately dragging him around a concrete wall.

He had never seen her act quite like this.

The concern on her face when she had approached him had been confusing enough, surprising actually, and now... did she want to treat his cut personally?

The three bags sitting on the bench she was dragging him towards was a perfect indication as to what she had been doing out at this time a day.

The girl shoved him down next to the bags before she herself sat down next to him, forcefully prying open his fingers before looking over the state of the wound.

This intrigued him.

She didn't seem to be disgusted by the sheer amount of blood pumping out of the slash, nor did the sight appear to make her nauseous. So, either, she had iron self-control when it came to her gag-reflexes, or the sight of injuries and blood didn't affect her.

Well... when he looked at the worry plastered over her child-like features, he couldn't help but to wonder if it was actually her worry that was overriding a fear of blood, if she even had any.

The girl was proving to have more layers to her character than he originally thought.

He couldn't say that he hated that.

* * *

Alright...

The wound on Gokudera's upper arm wasn't that deep, it was just the amount of blood pouring out of it that made it look as if it was.

Tsuna hated to see the injuries of other people, she always hurt with them, wishing she could somehow ease the pain they were feeling.

Well, lucky for Tsuna, this time, she could do something.

Looking up at the questioning gaze of her classmate, she had to swallow before she opened her mouth.

"Take off your shirt."

For whatever reason, Gokudera was wearing a red half-sleeved v-neck shirt over what she suspected was a black tank-top. The air was a bit too hot even for T-shirts in her opinion but she didn't judge him.

She tried not to glance down at his forearms. If she did, she didn't know if she would be able to move her eyes away from them.

Yes. Weather people would believe it or not, Tsuna could actually spend a couple of minutes to admire the one aspect of the male anatomy every now and then. She wasn't completely ignorant, or ignoring the male gender, she just wasn't looking towards them for any romantic affection as of right now (if she ever would). And what Tsuna found, by far, the most attractive part of the male body were the forearms.

However, only if the person was wearing shirts with long sleeves and the sleeves were rolled up, or if they were wearing half-sleeves, T-shirts and tank-tops only drew more attention to the biceps, leaving the forearms practically invisible.

She silently cursed that Gokudera had to wear a half-sleeved shirt. Which was part of the reason why she had asked him to take it off to begin with.

Gokudera looked at her with a raised eyebrow before he complied with her wishes and pulled the shirt over his head, winching slowly when she fabric moved over his wound but he ignored it.

Soon enough, he sat there in a black tank-top (she was right) with his shirt balled up between the palms of his hands.

Tsuna had fished out a handkerchief she had forgotten was in her pocket as he had done this and dampened it in the water-fountain just a few feet away so that she wouldn't actually have to watch him take his shirt off.

That would have been too weird.

Returning to the bench, Tsuna sat down before she immediately began to wipe away the excess blood around the wound, keeping her free hand gently wrapping it's fingers around his surprisingly bulging bicep.

It was at times like these that she loved that worry usually wiped away any other form of emotion in order for her to focus.

The same thing had happened just a few years before when her mother had fallen down the stairs and broken her bone, bad enough for said bone to peek out through her skin. Tsuna had been able to maintain enough calm in order to call for an ambulance and then stroke her mother over the hair for comfort until the paramedics finally arrived.

Tsuna didn't know who she got that from between her parents but she thanked the both of them just in case now that that skill helped her not to break out into nervous jitters at the closeness of her undoubtedly handsome classmate.

She was so caught up in her own mind that she almost didn't hear when Gokudera actually spoke for the first time since she pulled him off of the ground.

"Are you sure you should be doing this?" he asked, forcing Tsuna to look up at him.

For a moment, she just looked at him, staring into his eyes before she returned to her work.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she replied.

Gokudera let out a light groan when she accidentally applied a bit too much pressure on the side of the slash. He ignored her apology.

"Well for starters, I could attack you at any given moment."

Tsuna looked up at him again. Then, she shook her head and rose from the bench one more.

Walking over to the water-fountain, she washed the blood out of the handkerchief throughly before she walked back, and when she did, she was already in the middle of ripping the piece of cloth into multiple, thinner pieces of cloth, finishing up right before she sat down.

"I know you won't." she told him, her voice devoid of hesitation. She was one hundred percent sure about what she was telling him.

Gently, she began to wrap the pieces of cloth around the wound, somehow just knowing if it was too tight or too loose depending on the twitching of his muscles.

"Really?" Gokudera asked, sounding beyond doubtful.

She nodded to herself as she fastened the last piece of cloth, pulling her hands away with a quite pleased look on her face.

Immediately, Gokudera acted.

Within second, Tsuna was lying with her back pressed against the wood of the bench, her feet almost knocking down her bags with Gokudera sitting on top of her, his knees on either side of her hip and digging into a certain point that rendered her lower body paralyzed.

He leaned down over her, that ever-present frown even more annoyed than before.

"How about now?" he asked, moving his head in closer to her, his naturally gravelly voice sending shivers running down her spine. "Still sure I won't go through with it?"

He was obviously going out of his way to try and make her frightened.

However, it wasn't working.

"Yes." she answered, her voice clear and sure even though her hands were pinned on either side of her head.

His glare intensified and his grip on her wrists tightened.

She couldn't help but to winch at that.

"How?!" Gokudera's angered question rang through the evening air, echoing over the trees and bushes that filled the park. "You don't even know me!"

Despite his screaming. Despite the position he had her in. Tsuna felt herself somehow unable to become frightened.

Her worry had disappeared when she had finished treating the injury, so she should be a shivering mess at this point, but Tsuna was surprised to find that she was just as calm as she had been when she had pulled the teenager to the bench.

"I don't have to." Tsuna answered calmly, her eyes locked with Gokudera's.

Gokudera was a little taken aback at the gently, soothing calm that was her voice.

"All I know is that my brain isn't blaring in alarm whenever you're around like it does when Mochida-sempai is within viewing distance." was it just him or did her voice sound slightly darker than it usually was? "And that's all I need." Tsuna finished her explanation, hoping to get through to Gokudera's brain behind all the hot-air that made up his personality.

Shocked, Gokudera's grip on her wrists loosened.

"You..." he muttered as he raised himself from her. "My appearance should set it off more than that Mochida-teme." as he got off her waist, the feeling returned to her legs, allowing her to sit properly on the bench.

Gokudera sat down next to her after a moment of silence.

With the worry gone, it took some time before Tsuna managed to gather up the courage to put her hand on his shoulder, forcing him to turn towards her.

"Your choice of attire doesn't say everything about you." she pulled pointedly at his tank-top. "It just tell us a small aspect of your personality."

Silently, Tsuna questioned why she was still talking.

She pinned her eyes on her own hand, she desperately trying to ignore the feel of his eyes burning on the skin of her face.

It took some time before she found her voice again.

"You were raised to be a gentleman, weren't you?" her voice was quiet, almost a whisper.

The effect was instantaneous.

"How did you-?" Gokudera jerked himself away from her, glaring at her accusingly as though he believed she had somehow spied on him or hacked into top-secret information about his past in order to somehow blackmail him into going out with her...

That was just a theory.

Tsuna raised her hands.

"I just do." she cut him off, trying to make her voice sound calm so that she wouldn't make him jump to any crazy conclusions.

It kind of worked. He calmed down enough to return to his previous seat, but he was still glaring at her.

His eyes demanded that she kept talking.

Sighing, Tsuna lowered her hands.

"I can't exactly explain it." she brushed her hair behind her ear. "I just know."

That seemed to be enough for Gokudera.

His glare wiped itself off of his features, leaving behind a thoughtful expression.

"Huh..." he muttered.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Tsuna noticed that she had been gone for almost an hour and a half since she set out to bye groceries.

She would have to get home soon, or her mother would start to worry.

Turning towards Gokudera, she was about to tell him that she needed to go home when she saw something that made the breath catch in her throat.

Slowly, a small smile was making it's way onto the teenager's normally frowning features.

The hard lines around his eyes softened and a light chuckle escaped between his lips.

A chuckle that became a soft laughter.

Tsuna couldn't help but to stare wide-eyed at the teenage, unable to believe what she was seeing and hearing.

Leaning his head into his hand, Gokudera looked at Tsuna, but his eyes held a resigned glimpse to them, and beneath that, there was something Tsuna couldn't quite place. A mix of loyalty and adoration maybe?

"Aren't you just a giant ball of surprises Juudaime..." she heard him mutter, his gravelly voice sounding much gentler than anything she had ever heard him say before.

She jerked a little at his words.

"Juudaime?" she asked, trying the word out herself. "What's with the nickname?"

"Not telling." Gokudera chuckled. "We all need our secrets, don't we?" when he said this, he looked her straight in the eye.

Tsuna got this feeling that Gokudera knew that she was hiding something big from everyone around her, and the thought did not sit well with her.

"I-I guess..." she mumbled, scotching herself a bit away from the teenager as the tingling returned to the tips of her fingers. The worry was gone, and so was that unexplainable calm that she really couldn't understand where it had come from.

Gulping, Tsuna stood up from the bench and gathered up the three large bags. Only the sudden weight she put her arms through made her stumble, almost dropping one of them.

"Woah!" she cried out just before something caught the bag and helped her adjust them so that she wouldn't have to worry about dropping them.

Gokudera smiled at her over the top of the bags.

"Eh... thank you..." Tsuna muttered as she took a step away from the man, feeling awkward under the expression he was giving her. "Well..." she gulped. "I'll see you tomorrow." With that said, she turned around and walked away from the teenager with quick steps, hoping to put as much distance between the two of them without making it seem as if she was running away from him.

Well, at least make it less obvious.

She had gotten a couple of meters when Gokudera called out to her.

"Hey!" she practically froze.

Stiffly, Tsuna turned back around just in time to see Gokudera jogging the short distance she had put between them. The smile was gone and in stead, there was a look of dead seriousness.

"About that Mochida bastard." the name sent a jolt through Tsuna's system, the tingles raging stronger than they were before, slowly spreading towards the palms of her hands.

He seemed to notice her distress as he let out a growl, bringing up his one hand to furiously ruffle his hair.

"Look." he said, getting in closer to her. Now, the only thing separating the two of them were the three large bags in Tsuna's arms.

She had previously cursed the amount of groceries she had bought, not she thanked them to high heaven in her head.

Gokudera kept speaking.

"The only way to get over your fear of a useless waste of human D.N.A like him if to suck it up and face him head on." as he spoke, his eyebrows slowly drew together.

Tsuna's eyes flew wide open.

"I couldn't do that!" she shrieked, backing up from him. Only she put her foot wrong and would most likely have fallen backwards had Gokudera not steadied her, again.

That burning sensation where his skin came to contact with hers returned.

What was up with that?

Slowly, Gokudera released his hold on her upper-arms after making sure she wouldn't fall again.

Well, that is, if she doesn't suddenly decide to stumble backwards again.

"You could." Gokudera insisted. "If you let yourself." he smiled again. "You did just save me from an even more brutal beating than I was already going through."

Tsuna stared at her classmate as he pulled his red shirt back over her head. She had to force her eyes not to drift down to his forearms.

With the shirt back in place, Gokudera began backing away from Tsuna.

"Until tomorrow, Juudaime." then, with a wave and a light smile, he turned around, and walked away. Leaving Tsuna standing there with both her hands and her head full.

It took a moment before she managed to clear her mind enough to turn around herself.

"Seriously..." she muttered with a shake of her head. "What's with the nickname?"

Walking out of the park, Tsuna never noticed the dark pair of eyes that followed her until she disappeared out the gate-posts.

* * *

A few meters away from where he had been talking to the girl, Gokudera stopped walking once he entered an area of large sakura-trees.

Now, he was out of sight of anyone who could be spying on him.

Now, he just had to wait.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Well?" a deep voice asked from behind the tree he was leaning against. "What is your opinion on her?"

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, mindful of his newly treated injury, Gokudera allowing himself to smile.

"I would be honored to serve her," he replied. "And I suspect that many would share my thoughts."

A deep chuckle resonated between the trees.

"Good." the man commented. The smile he was most likely wearing could be heard on his voice.

Frowning, Gokudera tilted his head slightly towards the other side of the tree.

"When do you plan on telling her?" he asked.

For a moment, Gokudera thought the man had left due to the silence that followed his question, but then, the man spoke up.

"Not until she's got basic control over her powers." he let out a long sigh.

"And who knows how long that will take."

* * *

Tsuna got home about twenty minutes after her encounter with Gokudera.

Sighing heavily, she dropped the bags onto the floor before she closed the door behind her.

"Tsuna-chan!?" Nana screamed her question as she rushed into the hall. When she saw her daughter, she threw her arms around the smaller girl, hugging her as if she had feared the worst had come to her.

After what felt like ages, Nana finally loosened her grip.

Grabbing her daughter by the shoulders, Nana looked her daughter right in the eyes.

"Where have you been?"

Groaning at her mothers antics, Tsuna pushed the woman off of her, picking up the bag with her things from the floor.

Feeling her mother's gaze dig into the back of her neck, Tsuna shook her head before turning back towards her.

"I ran into a classmate on the way back." was her simple answer.

Knowing her mother, that was most likely everything that would be needed.

"Oh, alright then." sure enough, Nana's face lit up into a bright smile once more.

Tsuna suspected that the woman was pleased to hear that Tsuna was hanging out with friends from her class. Not that she'd call Gokudera-kun a friend.

Tsuna was just about to head up to her room when her mother spoke up again.

"Did Reborn-sensei find you?" she asked.

Tsuna furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"No..." she answered slowly.

Turning back, Tsuna saw her mother put her finger to her chin.

"That's odd..." the woman muttered.

At her daughters confused expression, Nana decided to explain.

"When you weren't home when you said you'd be, I sent out Reborn-sensei to fetch you."

Tsuna nodded in understanding, but there was still something that didn't add up.

Reborn was like, a master tracker. He could find a needle in a haystack in a matter of seconds, so why didn't he find her?

Tsuna chose not to think too much about it as she turned around and retreated to her bedroom, hoping that Reborn would be gone long enough for there to be no exercising today.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright. I don't know when the next chapter will come up.**

 **I'm a pretty fast writer, and if I'm seriously into it, I can complete a chapter within a day, so, the update may come up pretty fast but I can also decide to wait with uploading until I feel that I'm ready to update it.**

 **So... we'll just have to wait and see, don't we?**

 **Laters.**


	8. Target 8

**A/N: To all those who have reviewed.**

 **You are all the most beautiful of humans, you have all won the beauty pageant in my heart with each and every review you leave me. Every time I read them I just become so giddy! giddy on a fan-girl level I get so happy! :D**

 **Of course, everyone who just reads are also gorgeous, but I have no idea what you really think of this do I?**

 **Anyways, thank you all for your positive response.**

 **Also, I'm uploading this now because I will be off to my parental grandparent's summer home tomorrow and they ain't got no interwebs there!**

 **Anyway.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 8:**

 **How to beat a jerk-faced rapist**

When Wednesday came round, Tsuna felt as if she had been forcefully shoved onto a roller-coaster of emotions.

Tuesday morning when Tsuna came to school, Mochida had been standing just outside the classroom door, screaming at it to come in so that he could see his girlfriend.

Tsuna had hid herself around the corner the second she saw him, hoping against all odds that he wouldn't find her all the while forcing down the tinglings sensation. She remember groaning because she wished she would finally get some grasp of control.

Rumors of what Mochida had done to her that Friday afternoon had spread across campus like wildfire, turning each and every student against the guy. And as much as Tsuna liked seeing the school against one of their previously most popular athletes, she couldn't help but to feel that Mochida would one day come to her for all his problems, and who knew what might happen if that were to happen.

As the day passed, Mochida came over to the classroom almost every break, demanding to see Kyoko, but he was always pushed out.

Every time he would enter the classroom, Tsuna would slam her head against the desk, hiding it against the wood as she folded her hands at the back of her head. She wouldn't breathe, she wouldn't think, she would only focus on not allowing the tingling to become more than that.

She was thankful that Mochida never actually saw her, but that wasn't her only problem she had discovered.

Gokudera-kun had started to act in an obviously different way towards her.

When Nezu-sensei picked on her, Gokudera would blow up in the teachers face. Of course, he would be sitting in his desk with his legs throws up and his hands at the back of his head, but he would glare at their teacher hard enough to make the man visibly shake before Gokudera would throw the elder man down with his inteligence.

It had become so obvious that the majority of the girls in the classroom had begun to throw angry looks in Tsuna's directions.

During one lesson, even Yamamoto noticed it, and he decided to confront Tsuna about it during Lunch, just after the class had once again thrown Mochida out of the room.

* * *

"Sawada." Tsuna tensed at the sound of the tenor voice coming from behind her.

Stiffly, she turned around to meet the dark brown eyes of the baseball-player in the seat behind her.

"Y-yes?" she asked timidly.

The athlete gave her a painful smile. Of course, the smile may not have looked painful if any other person was looking at it, but all Tsuna got was heart-wrenching pain when her eyes fell on it. She had to force herself not to turn away.

"What's the deal between you and Gokudera?" the athlete asked, leaning over the desk to get closer to her.

Tsuna noticed the flicker of pain in his eyes when he did this.

"Nothing." Tsuna answered, her voice clear of any secrets as there were none. She threw a glance down the line of desks just in time to catch Gokudera turn his own eyes away from her.

Shaking her head, Tsuna turned her attention back towards Yamamoto.

"I just met him in the part yesterday." she explained, ignoring the obvious looks of the girls close enough to hear them. "We talked for a moment, but that's all there was too it."

She felt as if she was excusing herself.

That was a weird thought.

"Really?" Yamamoto leaned back into his chair with a thoughtful expression.

Then, he smiled a slightly less painful smile.

"Maybe he just got to know you better." he speculated. "Realized that you're not someone one can be mad at." he threw a glance towards said teenager. "Even when you appear to always be mad about something." he turned his attention back towards Tsuna.

Looking at the athlete, Tsuna brushed her hair behind her ear.

"I don't know..." she muttered, fiddling with her fingers.

It took some time for Tsuna to gather up her courage before she could make herself speak up.

There was something she desperately wanted to ask the athlete.

"Yamamoto-san..." she said, making the teen turn back towards her.

He gave her a look that told her to continue.

She swallowed heavily.

"What's-"

 **RING!**

Silently, Tsuna cursed the school bell for cutting her off.

Yamamoto looked up at the ceiling, a hint of disappointment washing over his features for a split second before he turned back to Tsuna. That painful smile back on his lips.

"We'll talk another time, alright?"

Tsuna almost winched at the sheer forcefulness of that smile.

It was painful to look at.

Still, she let out a deep sigh.

"Alright."

Reluctantly, she turned back towards the front of the class.

She really needed to talk to Yamamoto about those smiles, and soon.

* * *

Tsuna has always hated Wednesday's.

It was the day that everyone in her class was forced into those regular hours of torture that the faculty so laughably liked to call Physical Education, or P.E.

This week, again, they were outside.

Coach Enomoto had dragged out Tsuna's class for a game of soccer, of course, with the girls and boys playing on separate times.

As Tsuna sat with the rest of the girls, looking out over the boys playing out on the field, she couldn't help but to keep her eyes pinned on Yamamoto.

Every time the boy moved his muscles (desperately trying to keep in the pain), Tsuna would be hit with a horrible sense of familiarity. She bit her lip, her fingers tightening around her upper-arms as the memories came back to her.

She had a strong suspicion as to what Yamamoto's problem was, and the thought that he was going through something like that made her feel absolutely terrible.

She needed to talk to him, and she needed to do it fast.

* * *

P.E was rolling towards an end and the last game was being played.

Neither Tsuna nor Yamamoto was playing that one, so this would probably be as good a time as any. Well, at least that's what Tsuna had thought at the time.

Clenching her fists, Tsuna walked over to where Yamamoto was sitting, staring out over the game playing in front of them.

"Yamamoto-san..." she spoke up, forcing the athlete to look up at her.

For a moment, he just looked at her. Then, that painful smile made it's return to his features.

With how many times she had seen that smile directed towards her, Tsuna could have just as well believed that that specific smile was reserved for her alone. But Tsuna was nothing if not observant, and so she noticed that he smiled that exact same smile towards everyone that called out to him in either the classroom or on the school grounds.

How anyone else didn't notice the forcefulness of those smiles was beyond Tsuna.

To her, seeing that pained smile was like seeing a set of keys dangling in front of your eyes.

"Ah, Sawada..." Yamamoto said.

Even though his smile was painful, his eyes were still kind.

Sitting down next to the athlete, Tsuna felt the tingles slowly ebb away into nothingness, replaced by that strange calm that she had felt when she had treated Gokudera's wound.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, she looked at him, eyes filled with worry.

"What's wrong?"

Her question seemed to shock the athlete. The smile wiped itself away from his features, leaving an bewildered expression in it's wake.

"What do you mean?" he asked, leaning a bit away from her. "Nothings wrong." he added a light laugh that sounded just as painful as his smile appeared.

Tsuna shook her head at his reaction.

"Yamamoto-san... you're forcing your smiles." she brought up her knees, letting her head rest on the fold of her arms as she looked out over the field, allowing the man some time to show whatever facial expression he wished without her looking at him.

"Oh..." Yamamoto breather, making Tsuna turn back towards him. "You noticed that huh?" he scratched the back of his neck in what appeared to be resigned embarrassment.

Despite herself, Tsuna groaned in annoyance.

How could he ask her something like that when he knows her better than that?

"How could I not?" Tsuna asked, turning her torso fully towards him. "It's been painful to watch you smile for almost a week now."

Yamamoto laughed painfully once again.

Tsuna almost winched at the sound of it.

"Right..." Yamamoto muttered, threading his fingers through his fringe.

After a moment of sience, the athlete let out a long dejected (or maybe it was resigned?) sigh.

"Sawada, can I ask for your advice?"

The question had come so suddenly, and it was so unexpected that Tsuna froze. She just sat there, staring at the athlete with eyes thrown open in shock.

She had to shake her head in order to snap out of it.

"T-that depends on what you want advice on." she managed to say, brushing her hair behind her ear.

At first, it appeared as if Yamamoto had changed his mind.

Then, he licked his lips and turned his head fully towards the girl next to him.

"My average in baseball has been dropping as of late..." he admitted.

No wonder he didn't want to tell anyone. His reputation was almost entirely built up on his talent for the sport, and his reputation was what had gotten him most of his friends. If he were to loose the one thing he was good at, the only thing he would have would be his looks and if she knew Yamamoto right, there was no way he would ever play on those.

"I've tried to train in order to get better but... it only seems to get worse." he let out a groan in frustration and buried his face into the folds of his arms.

That was exactly what Tsuna had feared.

Swallowing, Tsuna gathered up the courage to ask something that would most likely lead to the athlete reaching the wrong conclusion about her intentions.

"Can I see your arm?" she asked timidly.

As she had expected, Yamamoto looked at her as if she was crazy.

Then, despite the questioning from that was still etched into his eyebrows, he lifted his arm from the side and presented it to her, rolling up the sleeve of his T-shirt even further to reveal the whole thing. He didn't take his eyes off of her for one second.

Tsuna had to gulp at the sight of the teenager's muscles but as it wasn't forearms, it was a lot easier to ignore her teenage hormones and in stead focus on the matter at hand.

Hesitantly, she raised her hands towards the offered limb.

"May I?" she asked, looking him straight in the eye.

Yamamoto nodded slowly in acceptance, however, he still didn't take his eyes off of her and the look of questioning was still there.

Slowly, Tsuna put her small hands on his upper-arm.

The pale color of her skin was a stark contrast to his sun-kissed tan.

Carefully, Tsuna ran her hands over his muscles, poking and squeezing certain areas all the while looking at his face for his reaction. And sure enough, with every poke and pinch she delivered to the muscles, the athlete winched, even though she delivered little to no pressure.

Slowly, the longer she kept up her administrations, a frown made it's way onto her child-like features. Her worry washing away the unstable state of her nerves.

This wasn't good.

The feel and sensitivity of his muscles was all too familiar to her.

Apparently, her distress was obvious enough for even someone as oblivious as Yamamoto to notice it.

"What is it?" he asked, his own voice sounding worried at her reaction.

Her attention jumped up to his face.

At the worry visible in his expression, Tsuna let go of his arm.

"Exactly.. how many times do you train a day?" she asked slowly, keeping her eyes locked on his, hoping to high heaven that he would understand her.

But of course, this was Yamamoto she was talking to.

"Of course!" the athlete exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. "I should train even more!"

Tsuna's eyes widened in horror.

"The muscle-pains must be because they're not being exercised enough." the athlete continued, smiling brightly as if he had just figured out the great riddle that was life.

No... no... he couldn't seriously be that clueless!

Or stupid!

"Wait." Tsuna spoke up, one of her hands raised, trying to get the attention of the oblivious athlete. "Yamamoto-san."

At the mention of his name, the athlete looked down on the girl.

He smiled brightly once again.

He obviously didn't notice the distressed expression on Tsuna's face.

"Thank you Sawada." he said, and then he ran off.

"Yamamoto-san!" Tsuna screamed after him but he was already gone.

Now she just sat there, staring in the direction the athlete had disappeared off too all the while knowing that he had practically just signed up for disaster.

She felt absolutely horrible.

Groaning, she allowed her head to fall into the palms of her hands.

She would have stayed in that very position for longer, had it not been for when the teenager that turned out to be surprisingly energetic when the emotion calls for it, called out to her.

"Juudaime!"

Tsuna's head snapped up.

"Oh no..." she groaned under her breath.

It wasn't that she didn't like Gokudera, or that she didn't like the attention he was giving her (even though it was a bit too much for her inexperience with attention). It was that she was very uncomfortable with his sudden change in behavior towards her. It had come too sudden for her to wrap her mind around it.

Not waisting one second, Tsuna pulled herself off of the ground and darted towards the changing rooms, knowing that the class had ended if Gokudera was calling out to her (he had been on one of the teams playing last).

Knowing his upbringing, he wouldn't dare to follow her in there.

* * *

Once the school day finally wrapped up, Tsuna once again lingered in the classroom for a little longer until the majority of her classmates had already left.

Once she herself made to walk out of the school building, she couldn't help but to notice how Gokudera had also lingered, and as she started walking, he took it upon himself to follow her though the hallways and out the main entrance, all the while keeping his oh-so-distinct eyes locked at her petite figure.

Someone, please do something about his behavior!

Tsuna was speed-walking over the paved ground that was the school yard when she suddenly heard a familiar voice screaming.

A voice that made her blood run cold.

"Are you kidding me?!" Mochida yelled out, making everyone still on the ground turn towards him, Tsuna included. "You can't break up with me!"

There stood Mochida and Kyoko, facing one another and both wearing angered expressions on their faces.

Even though Kyoko was a good head and a half shorter than Mochida, she still stood her ground with her hands firmly planted on her well-developed hips.

"I can and I will." Kyoko answered to his screaming with a soft, confident voice. "I don't want to be dating someone who assaulted one of my classmates." her eyes narrowed in anger. No one had ever seen Kyoko (the school angel) so angry before.

She turned around to walk away, but Mochida wouldn't have any of that.

"You bitch!" he screamed, grabbing hold of Kyoko's wrist.

"Let go of me!" she screamed back, trying to yank herself out of his grip, but he held on. If anything, his grip onto got tighter the more she struggled.

"You're not breaking up with me!" Mochida grabbed a hold of Kyoko's upper arms, shaking her furiously as if that would help her see reason. "I am not someone you break up with!"

"I said, let go!" Kyoko brought her hand up and slapped it across Mochida's face with as much strength as her delicate hands could muster.

The sound of the palm of her hand connecting with his cheek echoed across the yard.

Mochida just stood there for a moment, stunned at the girls actions.

His head had turned away from the force of the slap, and that was not the only thing it had done.

Kyoko's well manicured nails had left three distinct claw-marks running from Mochida's cheek-bone to his lip, leaving the slashes open, and lightly bleading.

Her action only served to anger Mochida even more.

"You worthless bitch!" he screamed louder than anything he had screamed before.

Violently and with as much strength as Mochida could summon at that moment, he hurled Kyoko to the ground, causing the girl to skid over the asphalt for a few feet.

She let out a loud shriek in pain as parts of her skin ripped open at the friction.

At that point, something happened to Tsuna.

Seeing one of the few classmates that had been kind to her from the very beginning treated in such a horrible way caused the known no-good of the school to narrow her eyes at the scene, her fists clenching at her sides not to try and ward off the tingling sensation that had roared to life in the tips of her fingers, but because of the anger that was slowly boiling up inside of her stomach.

Just like when she was frightened, the tingling spread. But this time, it was different.

In stead of Tsuna feeling like there were white-hot rapids rushing side-by-side with her blood as it had done when she was frightened for her life, now it felt like a white-hot river slowly flowing alongside with her blood-cells.

The sensation wasn't searching for an outlet of any kind, it was perfectly content with just pumping through her body at a calm, controlled rate even though her heart was nowhere near calm at the moment.

Tsuna's body suddenly felt lighter, like weights dropping off from her shoulders unlit she weighed little more than half of what had been her previous weight.

However, Tsuna didn't even register this change.

In stead, she kept her eyes pinned on the man that haunted her dreams, but in stead of fear, she fell pure, overwhelming anger.

For the first time since Tsuna's father had walked out of their house for work six years ago, Tsuna was legitimately furious.

She didn't look it thought.

In stead of furrowing her eyebrows until they fused with the top of her eyelids and bare her teeth like people usually did when they became angry, Tsuna in stead narrowed her eyes and allowed her body to succumb to an unnatural calm.

She stared at Mochida as is sizing up her prey.

Then, with pose acquired from years of intensive ballet training, Tsuna walked over towards the fighting ex-couple with confident strides that didn't fit in with the character the students have come to understand that she had.

Once her steps were within hearing range, Mochida turned his head away from his bleeding ex-girlfriend on the ground.

He turned his face right into the fist Tsuna had just thrown at him.

A sickening crack rang through the air as Mochida's nose broke.

Everything went completely silent.

Holding onto his bleeding nose, Mochida stared up at Tsuna with eyes wide open in disbelief.

"What-?"

Tsuna didn't allow him the luxury of talking.

"That's for what you did to Kyoko." her voice was sickly calm, sending chills running down the spines of everyone watching.

This was not the frightened rabbit they had come to associate with Sawada Tsunako.

This... this was a lioness on a hunt.

Taking a step back, Tsuna did a graceful pirouette.

In mid spin, Tsuna extended her leg just in time for it to smack into the side of Mochida's head, sending him tumbling to the ground with shocking speed.

Still with that air of calm surrounding her, Tsuna walked up to where Mochida now lay.

"That was for what you and your goons almost did to me."

Subconsciously, Tsuna just admitted that Mochida and his buddies had almost raped her, but she was too sucked up in her anger to notice anything but the already bleeding man lying at her feet.

Narrowing her eyes further, Tsuna raised her leg once more and aimed one last, precise kick to the teenager.

One hard blow to his crotch.

The screech of pain that escaped from Mochida's lips echoed over the silence from the other students, only ebbing away in time for Tsuna to say her one last message.

"And that, was for me."

Mochida wasn't listening. He was too busy rolling around on the ground with one hand covering his aching private parts whilst the other was trying to stop the blood-flow from his nose.

Tsuna backed away from the scene as she felt flow of the fire diminish, taking the calm she had been feeling with it.

All eyes were on her.

They couldn't believe what they had just seen. And if it wasn't for the fact that Mochida clearly was in terrible pain, they would probably have believed that they had seen some form of illusion, even though they had all seen the same thing.

Ignoring the whispering of the students, Tsuna jogged over to Kyoko who was still on the ground, winching a the pain of the scratches on her creamy skin.

"You alright?" Tsuna asked gently as she crouched down in front of her classmate.

"Yes." Kyoko answered. She smiled up at Tsuna. "Thank you, Sawada-chan."

It was the second thanks she had received that day, but this one felt much more deserved than that first one had done.

With the help of Hana, she and Tsuna managed to get Kyoko back to her feet without causing the poor girl any more pain than she was already in.

"I'll take her from here." Hana said, keeping her hands on her best friends shoulders to keep her steady.

Before they left to go find the school sister in order to treat Kyoko's scratches, Hana gave Tsuna a smile of her own.

"You sure showed that dick not to mess with us girls, didn't you Sawada?" her smile turned into a smirk as she glanced at said 'Dick' still wiggling on the ground.

Tsuna brushed her hair behind her ear.

"I guess I did."

When she looked at Mochida now, all semblance of fear that she had previously had for his face was gone, as if it had never been there in the first place.

For the first time in a long while, she felt proud of something that wasn't her bedroom or a painting she had just finished.

She couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her lips.

As the crowd of students started to leave due to the lack of things actually going on, one person in particular stepped out from the masses.

Hibari Kyoya stalked straight up to the still writhing student, his eyes holding an unexplainable emotion.

Ignoring the teenagers pain, Hibari reached forwards and grabbed hold of the back of Mochida's shirt. With one powerful tug, Hibari had the teenager on his feet. He hid a smirk at the mix of a shriek of pain and fear the man let out.

Hibari turned towards Tsuna.

"Herbivore." he spoke up, making the girl turn towards him.

Tsuna tensed slightly once she met his eyes.

"I'll take him from here."

Tsuna nodded in acceptance once, still standing as if in attention.

As Hibari started to drag a struggling Mochida away by his shirt, Tsuna couldn't help but to notice the expression on his face.

For whatever reason, she couldn't decipher the emotions behind that look, but it still felt terribly familiar.

Too busy staring at the retreating prefect, Tsuna wasn't aware of another teen approaching her from behind. That is, until the teen in question decided to speak up.

"You were marvelous Juudaime."

His voice and presence was so sudden that Tsuna almost let out a scream. She managed to contain that but she couldn't stop herself from jumping almost a mile into the air in her surprise.

"G-Gokudera-kun." Tsuna managed to say over her panting breaths.

Putting a hand over her chest, Tsuna forced her breathing down.

Thankfully, being surprised couldn't easily awaken the flames, otherwise the poor guy would be a pile of ashes round abut now.

Once she got her breathing in order she turned towards the man, backing away as she let her hand drop from her chest.

"Again with the nickname..." she muttered under her breath.

Unfortunately, Gokudera heard it.

Thankfully, he didn't seem offended by the annoyance in her tone.

"I call you that because it is who you are." he explained, a gentle smile on his lips and his arms pinned at his sides in what could be nothing but attention.

It was creepy on so many levels.

Despite herself, Tsuna sighed, brushing her hair behind her ear.

She couldn't actually explain it, but she didn't feel as shy anymore. Whereas she usually couldn't stand in front of Gokudera without turning into a stuttering mess, she couldn't feel that anymore, her voice was perfectly steady.

What's happening to her?

"What is it even supposed to mean?" Tsuna asked, scratching at the skin of her upper arm.

The white-hot fire had now left behind a terrible itching sensation wherever her skin was exposed.

Well... that's a side-effect if she ever heard of one.

Gokudera had a serious expression for a moment, then he smiled again.

"That is of no importance at the moment." He insisted.

Tsuna was about to correct him that it was important to her, when he stepped forward, successfully shutting her up with his closeness.

"Know this Juudaime." he said in a soft voice as he took her hands into his, holding them in the air between the two of them as he stared her straight into the eyes.

For a split second, Tsuna was afraid he would propose to her, but she got rid of that thought as fast as it came.

They were sixteen years old, for crying out loud.

"I, Gokudera Hayato, would gladly stand by your side until the day I die." his words forced Tsuna's eyes to slowly widen themselves in disbelief.

What in the world was he implying?

He stepped even closer, trapping their hands in between their chests.

"I shall follow you until the ends of the Earth, if you allow me."

The look in his eyes unnerved her.

Tsuna felt the stutters return to her throat.

"A-are you talking tile... s-subordinates?" she asked slowly. She would have removed her eyes from his by now, but he was holding her gaze with the pure determination residing inside of those olive-green orbs.

Her hands burned where he touched her.

Confusion flashed inside Gokudera's eyes, together with worry.

"Why yes." he confirmed, his voice sounding as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Is that a problem?"

Getting back some of her courage, Tsuna began trying to wiggle herself out of his grip.

"Eh... y-yes..." she managed to say before she wrenched her hands out of his, backing away slowly all the while staring into his slightly wounded eyes. "I don't need, not want any s-subordinates." the very word was making Tsuna uncomfortable.

Having people working for you, following your every order might be the dream come true for most people, but for Tsuna... the thought of having that much control over someone else's life made her skin itch even more than it did before.

She backed away from the man even further.

"Juudaime?" Gokudera asked, raising one of his hands.

"Bye!" and with that, Tsuna spun around on her heels and bolted from the school grounds as fast as her long legs could carry her.

She ignored the teens scream after her.

* * *

In the shadows of the school building, a tall dark male steps out, his mouth twisted into a smirk at what he had just witnessed.

"She's finally starting to mature." he mutters, tilting his fedora so that she shadows covered his eyes. "It's about time."

* * *

 **A/N: I know it's a bit short, but this is what I laid out for this chapter and I am pleased with how it turned out.**

 **Now, from tomorrow, I will be unreachable for I don't know how long. I will have plenty of time to write shit so I may have things to upload by the time I return to the heaven that is interwebs.**

 **Please tell me what you think and I will be back with another chapter when I decide it's time.**

 **Laters.**


	9. Target 9

**A/N: Alright, this chapter won't give you much in terms of things going on, but I had to cut out about half of what I had originally planned for this chapter to contain, and this is still by far the longest chapter I have written. I overestimated what I could fit into one chapter and so, when I had reached the first line-cut, I had already reached four pages, and I had only written half a page of dialogue for that one, and considering the other line of dialogue was one page long...**

 **Well, you get what I mean.**

 **So basically, this chapter will practically only contain the really long conversations between Tsuna and two different characters in two different scenarios.**

 **I will give you more in the next chapter, I promise.**

 **Until then.**

 **Enjoy.**

 **I hope.**

* * *

 **Target 9:**

 **Setting things straight.**

Tsuna was sitting on her usual place on top of the coffee-table, only this time, her face wasn't contorted into a concentrated frown.

In stead, it was slowly spreading into a pleasantly surprised smile.

"I can feel it." she breathed, her voice ringing with the sheer joy she was feeling at her new accomplishment.

Leaning against the wall, the only sign of Reborn's feelings about her reveal was the twitch at the corner of his lips and the slight clenching of his fingers. But otherwise, he appeared to be completely undisturbed by the news.

Finally, they were getting somewhere.

"Think you can grasp it?" Reborn asked, not taking his eyes away from the girl.

A look of concentration spread across Tsuna's face, her eyes squeezing shut and her shoulders tensing as she desperately tried to rein up that flickering feeling she was currently feeling about ten times stronger than she had ever felt it before.

She managed to get some feel of holding the flickering feeling within imaginary hands, only the flickering was like slime, constantly slipping through her fingers. The constant loss was messing up her concentration and thus making it even harder for her to to grasp it.

"It's slippery..." Tsuna mumbled through her lightly bit lip.

Peeling himself off of the wall, Reborn stepped up behind his student, putting his hands on her shoulders.

"That's completely normal." he said, closing his eyes in concentration as well, though not as fiercely as his student concentrated. "Just concentrate."

Tsuna furrowed her eyebrows, trying to do what he asked of her but it just wouldn't work. In fact, the more she tried to concentrate, the more it slipped away when she tried to once again grasp the flickering at the center of her chest area.

Reborn knew that concentration became much harder once you actually tried to grasp the sensation, it just came without saying as the flames naturally did not want to be controlled. It usually took a Cour DiLeone a decade before they find themselves able to successfully grasp the flickering sensation.

However, his student did not have a decade.

His eyes still closed, Reborn put his thumb at the base of Tsuna's neck.

"Relax."

His hand started glowing a soft, gentle yellow, allowing the glow to seep into his students skin. As the glow seeped in, Tsuna's tense demeanor relaxed, allowing her concentration to remain where it was as she kept on trying to grasp the flickering.

Opening his eyes, Reborn slowly removed his hands from his students, frowning at what he had just forced himself to do.

He focused once again, causing his eyes to flash yellow.

"You got hold of it?" Reborn asked, seeing how the pulsating glow around his student became more controlled, more in time with her breathing.

"I... I think so..." Tsuna answered softly, her fingers flexing in her lap.

"Good." Reborn commented, his eyes flashing once again. "Now increase the flow of the fire."

Tsuna had been informed that the fire was constantly pulsating through her bloodstream, only at such a small amount that she didn't feel it until the amount was increased. Now, she was to attempt to increase the speed of the flickering sensation by squeezing it, thus forcing the flickering to increase the amount emitted into the bloodstream, once the required amount was out, she would let go and allow the fire to run its coarse through her body.

She would only have to increase the amount enough for her to feel the change, that way the increased amount could run its course in the shortest amount of time possible since this was the first time she has managed to get this far during one session.

She was already way ahead of the ordinary mastering schedule but as stated before, his student needed to master her flames in the shortest amount of time possible.

He watched at the pulsating around his student increased.

It increased too much.

Now that he thought about it, he had not informed his student about the amount she would need to release in the beginning as he had not expected her to reach this level all under one session.

Now, it was coming back to haunt him.

"Stop." he called out, his voice firm as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Immediately, Tsuna let go of the flickering sensation, allowing it to once again disappear into the center of her chest where she had found it before loosing the location of it completely.

She notices the change, at once.

Usually, after she stopped her exercise, she would be overcome with a sense of exhaustion. Now, all she could feel was calm. A serene calm that she hadn't experience in a long long time.

She turned her attention towards her tutor.

"What happened?" Tsuna knew that she was unnerved at just how calm her voice sounded, but she couldn't for the life of her understand why she couldn't feel it.

"You released too much in one go." Reborn explained, positioning himself in front of his student, looking almost disappointed with her even though his eyes gleamed with concealed pride.

It wouldn't do if he revealed his true emotions, now would it?

"You only need to release enough for you to feel the difference."

Tsuna nodded slowly in understanding.

"Right..." she muttered, her eyes directed towards her flexing fingers.

The calm sensation was really creeping her out. Well, at least she knew that it was freaking her out but she couldn't feel anything but that eerie calm.

She took a deep breath before she looked up at her tutor.

"What now?"

Sighing, Reborn crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head as if annoyed at her question. Or possibly the answer he would be forced to give her. She hoped that it was the latter option.

"Now..." he breathed, his dark voice booming between the walls despite the low volume of which he was speaking. "We wait for the fires you released to run it's course." he looked up at her with what appeared to be a hidden glare of accusation, not that he could actually blame her since he had been the one to not mention that detail. "It's going to take some time."

Frowning lightly, Tsuna squirmed her shoulders.

"I feel..." she muttered, rubbing her arms. "Strange..."

As she created friction over her skin, the sensation was hotter than it usually was.

"Calm?" Reborn asked, raising one of his eyebrows.

She looked up at her tutor with a questioning look in her eyes.

"Yes..." she answered honestly after a moment of silence.

The corner of Reborn's mouth twitched.

"Like when you went up against that Mochida person?"

She frowned again, taking her eyes off of her tutor as she pealed herself off of the coffee-table so that she may sit down on her bed in stead.

She thought back on the sensation she had felt when she had seen the way Mochida had treated Kyoko on the school grounds. And as much as the sensation was similar, it wasn't quite there yet. It was weaker than what she had felt then.

"Not really..." she answered, once again causing Reborn to raise his eyebrow. "But it's close." he fixed her eyes on her hands.

She took a while before she managed to look up at Reborn again.

"What does this mean?"

"Well..." Reborn sat down next to his student, adjusting the position of his hat. "According to our history, your ancestor Gitto never got angry." Tsuna looked up at her tutor, her expression still calm but her large eyes glinted of disbelief.

Yeah, she could play that game too now Reborn.

He ignored her, and in stead just continued talking.

"In stead, he entered a calm that frightened his enemies and allies alike." he glanced at Tsuna from the corner of his eyes. "He was said to resemble a prowling lion when he entered this state." he watched as Tsuna turned her head away from him, her eyebrows twitching into an emotion she couldn't quite express.

"You mean... I'm unable to become furious?"

"Oh no." Reborn answered without any hesitation what so ever. "You still get angry. You just don't appear to be for the people around you." he paused for a second. "Well, at least I expect it to be for you as you are very much like your forefather."

She bit her lip, flexing her fingers before she turned towards her tutor.

"Why does it happen?" she asked, referring to the sensation that she was thankfully starting to ebb away, allowing her to actually feel hints of the confusion she was currently experiencing.

"In theory, it is the flames that does it." Reborn explained. "Warmth has a natural calming effect to your senses, making one tired during times of heat. So when you activate the flames inside of your body, it automatically forces you to emotionally calm down." Tsuna lowered her head once again, pursing her lips in thought. Ignoring her, Reborn continued. He was only part-way through his explanation after all. "Every Cour DiLeone are naturally calm during times of trouble, but only those able to access the flames through their skin, have their flames instinctively activated during times of strong emotions."

A small frown etched its way onto Tsunako's features.

"But... I don't calm down when I'm frightened." she muttered, tilting her head in Reborn's direction, the glow of confusion slowly making it's way into the brown of her eyes.

"That's because when frightened, your whole body kick into your basic survival instincts. But when angered, you still have some control over your actions." he gave his student a hidden glance. "Personally, I also believe that is is too dangerous for a Cour DiLeone to be truly angered, so the fire acts on it's own accord to calm you down in order for things not to get out of hand."

For a longer moment, Tsuna just sat there, allowing the new information to sink in as the calm slipped out of her body.

She had known that her fire would be dangerous to the people around her. But to think of herself getting angry and deliberately use the fire for attack because her rage was controlling her...

She really didn't want to think about it.

Thinking he was done talking, Reborn got off the bed and started off towards the wall he liked to lean against most, which happened to be just next to the closet doors.

He was half-way through the room when Tsunako spoke up again.

"There's still one thing I don't understand."

Groadning silently under his breath, Reborn turned back towards his student.

"What would that be?" he asked, folding his arms over his chest.

The calm now almost completely run out of her system, Tsuna was able to look at her tutor with her eyes wide open in curiosity.

"You said our history." she noted. For a split second, she could have sworn that she had seen Reborn's fingers stiffening where they rested on his arm. "Why are you talking about?" she brushed her hair behind her ear. Something that she hadn't done for a while now.

Maybe it was a nervous tick. She had always just thought that it had been a regular habit, like biting your nails.

Did that make it a nervous habit then?

She was brought out of her thoughts when Reborn turned half-way away from her.

"That is not important as of right now." he said, his voice holding a certain threatening tone to it.

She brushed her hair behind her ear again.

Yes, definitely a nervous habit.

How hadn't she noticed this before?

She swallowed heavily before she forced her back to straighten out and look straight at her tutor, not intending to give way just because he told her it wasn't important.

He had been dropping hints all over the place, not explaining any of them to her and she was starting to become impatient for the answers he was keeping for her.

"But what is I want to know either way?" she asked.

She felt as if Reborn was holding back a glare.

Looking at his student Reborn was starting to regret forcing her progression rate to increase. She was gaining a backbone far too quickly for his liking.

He stalked up towards her, his arms still crossed over his chest.

"Listen here Tsunako." his voice was dripping with a hidden threat that sent his student slowly pressing herself up against the wall, her shoulders lightly trembling. He ignored the slightly twitch of guilt. She needed to learn to never oppose him. "I will tell you everything you need to know once you need to know it, and that's all you need to know right now."

The comment was so strange, that Tsuna practically forgot all the fear she had previously felt towards her tutor.

She tilted her head in confusion.

"What?"

He didn't answer her.

In stead, he backed off of the soon-to-be sixteen year old and stared down at her.

"The effect appears to have worn off." he noted.

Looking down at her fingers, Tsuna shrugged.

"I guess."

Nodding at her response, Reborn pointed towards the Coffee-table.

"Now go back to what you were doing." he ordered. "Now remember to only release enough for you to feel the difference."

Feeling that it wouldn't be a good idea to tell him no, Tsuna pealed herself away from the wall in a much less smooth manner compared to her tutor (the peeling-yourself-off-of-a-wall master), and slowly made her way towards the furniture of which her tutor was pointing.

"Alright." she breathed.

Reborn watched his students body-language as she resumed the all-too familiar position on top of the table.

Maybe he should let her off for a while.

She had managed to improve immensely in just a manner of minutes after all.

Plus... there was that second problem that worried him.

* * *

The next morning, Tsuna was sitting at the breakfast table feeling as if the figurative costume she had been wearing since she was five had become lighter by a couple of hekto's.

The training session had continued until Nana had called them down for supper, and thankfully, Reborn deemed that she had progressed enough for her to take the rest of the weekend off. So long as she practiced grasping the flame source every morning and before going to bed.

In other words, to say that Sawada Tsunako was in a good mood that morning, could very well be considdered an understatement. She didn't even mind that she would have to go to school. All that mattered was that she felt completely well-rested for the first time since Reborn had started training her.

She was right in the middle of eating her breakfast omelet when her mother suddenly burst into the room, a frantic yet still energetic look on her face.

"Tsuna-chan!" she practically screamed as she reached her daughters chair. "Why is there a guy on a motorcycle outside our house?"

Tsuna almost chocked on the bite she had just put in her mouth.

"What?!" she exclaimed.

Reborn, sitting on the other end of the table with a news-paper folded up in front of him, glanced at the two females from over the top.

Forgetting her breakfast, Tsuna bolted from her chair and rushed towards the front door. Well, technically, the curtain covered windows on it's sides.

Slowly, Tsuna moved the curtain aside with the tip of her finger and peered outside.

And there he was. Leaning against a familiar motorbike with his helmet resting between his hands and his olive eyes roaming over her house. His silver hair flapped around his head in the strong wind that morning just happened to come with.

Tsuna hated windy days. Well, she hated that she would be forced to wear the school-skirt during windy days.

She couldn't help but to take a mental note that he had the sleeves of his hoodie rolled up to his elbows.

 _'NO!'_

 _'Bad Tsuna!'_

 _'No looking at forearms.'_

Despite herself, Tsuna released a gasp at the sight of the teenager.

"Gokudera-kun!" she exclaimed.

Almost as if hearing her, said teenager's piercing eyes snapped towards the exact window who's curtain she was hiding behind. Out of reflex, she let the curtain fall back into place and her back to fall against the wall next to the window.

She hoped to high heaven that he hadn't spotted her.

"You know him Tsuna-chan?"

Nana's apparent materialization right next to Tsuna almost made the girl in question just out of her skin at the shock.

Calming down, Tsuna managed a weak nod in confirmation.

Immediately, Nana went off firring question after question as if firring a machine-gun. Not allowing her daughter to answer any of them, that's how fast the next question came up.

"Who is he?"

"How old is he?"

"Is he interested in you?"

"He's a half isn't he?"

"He's kind of cute don't you think?"

Tsuna practically threw her hand over her mother's mouth to keep the woman from asking anymore questions. The ones she had already asked were already starting to make her head spin.

She took a deep breath before she looked her mother in the eye.

"He's a classmate of mine named Gokudera Hayato." she started off. Then, in one breath, she attempted to answer the other questions. "He's sixteen years old. I don't think he's romantically interested in me. Yes, he's half Italian and..." she trailed off, her cheeks flushing up into a light shade of pink. "I... I guess he's not that unfortunate looking..."

 _'Way to go Tsuna'_. She commented in her head. _'That doesn't sound obvious at all...'_

Even someone as oblivious as Nana was, she could clearly read her daughter like an open book. Especially when said daughter was currently shying away from her, awkwardly (yet gracefully) shifting her weight from one foot to the other with that bright pink blush still lighting up her previously pale features.

"Don't try to lie to me Tsuna-chan." Nana teased, putting her hands on her hips.

The brush fading from Tsuna's cheeks, the girl groaned at her mother's behavior.

Having a mother with the mentality of someone even younger than herself when it comes to anything related to romance...

It was one of Tsuna's least favorite qualities about her mother.

"Fine." she admitted, brighting her arms down as the blush crept back. "I think he's the perfect example of aristocratic handsomeness." she brushed her hair behind her ear at the stare her mother was currently giving her. "Happy now?"

"Very." her mother replied with a giggle.

Tsuna groaned once again, hiding her face in the palm of her hand.

"Now." Nana said, taking her hands off of her hips and in stead placing them on her daughters thin shoulders. "Go talk to him," with that said, Nana began to push her daughter towards the door.

"What?!" Tsuna exclaimed, digging her socked heels into the floorboards, trying to keep herself from being pushed any further.

Funnily enough, she didn't feel that familiar tingling at the tips of her fingers like she usually would have in situations like these.

So she _was_ gaining more control over the ability.

Pressing the palms of her hands against the door, trying to keep her mother from opening it, Tsuna turned to look at the woman from over her shoulder.

"I can't just do that!" she tried, wanting nothing more than to avoid the boy.

That thing he had told her about wanting to follow her to the ends of the earth... about being her subordinate... it was just plain creepy. She found his behavior now even more unnerving than he had been when he had just stared at the back of her head at the back of the classroom. At least then she could pretend that it was just the crazy mess her hair was in that caught his attention. But now... he had sounded like he was proposing to her the last time they spoke for crying out loud!

"Oh come on Tsuna-chan." Nana argues, pushing even harder on Tsuna's shoulders. Trying to get her daughter to let her arms give way enough for her to reach the door handle, and then the girl would most likely tumble out of the house and would be forced to face the boy. "That boy is obviously here for you, so go out there and talk to him."

Tsuna knew her mother's plans, and she wouldn't allow it to happen if she had anything to say about it.

Then, she cast a glance over to the kitchen doors and thought up an idea.

"I haven't even finished my breakfast yet."

Her mother has always made sure that everyone ate everything on their plate and that everyone had something in their stomachs before they left the house. So Tsuna hoped that the woman's motherly instincts would at the very least allow Tsuna the time to finish her meal and thus have enough time to prepare herself for the inevitable.

Apparently, she hadn't been hoping enough.

"I'll pack it with your lunch." the woman said, finally getting just enough pressure for Tsuna's arms to bend enough for her to reach the doors handle. "Now go."

That was the only warning Tsuna got before the door flew open.

Tsuna just barely managed to avoid crashing face-first into the ground as she heard the slam of her mother closing the front door closely followed by the light click that indicated that the door had now been locked from the inside.

Slowly, Tsuna raised her head to look straight at the teen still leaning against his bike.

Only, he wouldn't be doing that for much longer.

The second his olive eyes fell on Tsuna's petite frame, he shot up from his leaning position, standing straight with the helmet still clutched between his hands.

She noticed that there was a few rips in his blue plaid slacks, the chains still hung from his belt-loops and the school shirt could be seen poking out from under the hoodie. She saw a studded leather bangle on his left wrist and multiple black hair-ties wrapped around his right (what did he do with that many hair-ties?). Those rings were still ever-present on his singers.

When the wind picked up, she could see the glimmering of a simple silver ring hanging from his ear and a black ear-cuff attached higher up the shell of the ear.

It wasn't anything too different from what she had seen him wear before, but it still caught her eye. Especially the bangle and hair-ties just because they were attached to those forearms.

 _'Focus Tsuna! You are_ not _a drooling fangirl, remember?'_

"Good morning Juudaime." he greeted with a bow, a serious expression etched into his features.

Not wanting to drag things out, Tsuna cut right to the chase.

She didn't know why, but she felt a lot more confident than she did the day before.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, walking down the stairs of the platform and down the short path before she reached the gate. There she stayed, keeping the gate as a property line between the two of them.

She hoped he wouldn't cross it.

Balling the helmet between his hands for a second, Gokudera then hooked the helmet between his left arm and his hip, furiously ruffling his hair with his now free hand.

He took a deep breath before he looked back up at her.

"I want to ask you something." he admitted, his voice almost sounding timid. Which was a great feat as the gravelly tone to his voice made any signs of weakness almost unnoticeable to the ear. It was like he was making an effort to allow his emotions to be heard.

Slightly taken aback at his words, Tsuna took one step back, her right hand reaching up to scratch her left forearm at the change of events.

"What would that question be?" she found herself asking before she could stop herself.

Taking a deep breath, Gokudera allowed himself to take a few steps closer to the gate, all the while still keeping good distance between the two of them.

"Yesterday, you said that you didn't want a subordinate." he pointed out, once against bringing out his helmet so that he was holding it in between his hands. Though he never once took his eyes away from the girl standing in front of him.

"Yes..." Tsuna admitted slowly. She wasn't quite sure if she liked where he was heading by bringing that up again.

"Well..." he cast a glance down at the helmet once again before he allowed himself to lock his eyes with hers. "What do you want?"

Shocked, Tsuna suddenly found herself unable to do anything but stare at him.

"What?" she asked once she finally found her voice.

"Juudaime." forgetting the helmet, Gokudera let the thing drop to the ground, creating quite the horrible noise but he appeared as though he didn't hear it. In stead, he stalked right up to the gate, grabbing hold of the horizontal iron bar as he stared intently at her. "Just because you tell me you don't want a subordinate, doesn't mean that I will stay away from you." a chill ran down Tsuna's spine at his words. He sounded sort of like how she imagined a stalker would sound like. "So I'm asking you..." he took a short moment to gather his thoughts. Probably thinking about the best way to formulate the question he had in mind. "If you don't want me to be your subordinate, what would you have me be?" came the final result.

Once again, Tsuna was rendered voiceless.

Blinking rapidly, Tsuna dared to step up closer to the fence where his hands were still clenched around the iron bars.

She could feel a light hint of worry develop in the center of her chest.

The familiar sensation of a small increase of flame seeming into her bloodstream came as a surprise for her, but she didn't think too much about it.

Now, she was only standing a few feet away from him, staring intently into his surprisingly bright olive-green eyes.

"You'd agree to anything?" she asked softly.

"Anything." came Gokudera's slightly eager answer, not one hint of hesitation.

She'd have to see about that.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, she prepared herself for the question that would tell her what she really needed to know about the young man standing in front of her.

"Even if I asked you to be my lover?"

For a second, a look of what appeared to be shocked horror passed over Gokudera's face. His mouth fell open and his grip tightened around the pole of the gate. Which was probably a good thing as he currently looked as though he was about to fall over.

Even as he regained his balance and relaxed her grip on the gate, his mouth was opening and closing in what could only be described as a very good imitation of a fish.

Shaking his head, Gokudera looked away from Tsuna.

He took a deep breath before he could bring himself to look back at the girl.

He swallowed, looked deep into her eyes with a serious glint to the olive-green before he opened his mouth.

This time, his voice actually worked.

"Would you have me as one?" there was this strange tone to his voice that worried Tsuna more than anything else she had just see him do. It was like he was interested, but also horrified that she would even ask him something like that.

Brighting up her hands, Tsuna rubbed her upper-arms.

"If I were any other girl in our class..." she glanced away from him. "Probably."

From the corner of her eye, she noticed how Gokudera's fingers flexed around the iron.

Almost in resignation, Gokudera spoke up again.

"If you were to ask it of me, I would comply."

And that was the last straw.

Tsuna let out probably the loudest groan she had ever done, rolling her eyes dramatically before she allowed her face to fall into the palm of her hand.

She really couldn't believe this guy.

"That's what I was afraid of." she murmured into the skin of her palm.

A worried look passed over Gokudera's face.

"Juudaime?" he asked after a moments hesitation.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, Tsuna turned her eyes back on Gokudera.

It was time for this boy to see sense.

"The thought of having full control of another persons life is sickening to me." she declared.

She watched as a look of understanding dawned on Gokudera's features. He even was sensible enough to look down in apparent guilt just before she kept on talking.

"I don't want to be around someone who blindly follows everything I tell them to do." she gave him a pointed look at this.

Licking her lips, she entered the more lenient part of what she wanted him to know. What she felt that he needed to know.

"If you want to be around me, you need to have a mind of your own, your own choices and preferences." he looked up at her as she said this, once again raising his height over her where it had previously been at just a few inches below her forehead.

"You need to have the ability to tell me no." for a split second, it looked as though Gokudera thought that idea to be blasphemy, but he let it slide.

She gave him a light smile as she kept on speaking.

"You are very intelligent Gokudera-kun, I'd hate to see that mind wither away into nothing but a loyal puppy." when she had mentioned his intelligence, Gokudera's eyes had shone up, finally straightening himself out until he was no longer hunched over in what she suspected had been either shame or guilt.

Brushing her hair behind her ear once again, Tsuna shifted her weight awkwardly from one foot to the other.

This was probably the longest she had ever spoken in one go to another person, but as mentioned before, she really felt that Gokudera needed someone to tell him that.

"You understand me right?" she asked, seeing the look of full realization on Gokudera's features.

"Yes." he admitted with a nod, and was that a light smile?

Ignoring the slight curve of the corner of Gokudera's lip, Tsuna cleared her throat.

"Good." she commented.

She smiled slightly herself.

"Now." she straightened her back, causing Gokudera to automatically do the same. "Let's try this again." she pierced the guy in front of her with the most serious expression she could muster before she repeated the question from before, only with a different wording. "If I were to ask you to be my lover, would you?"

More relaxed than he had been when she had asked the question before, Gokudera cleared his throat.

"Honestly..." he paused, allowing his eyes to travel over her petite frame, from her long slender legs to the delicate curve of her eyebrows. "Even though I certainly wouldn't mind it seeing as I am a hormonal teenager and you are very much a lovely young woman whom no man in their right minds would dare refuse when given the opportunity to-"

With every praise he apparently absentmindedly threw her way, Tsuna's face grew just a shade redder until it was close to the color of a ripe strawberry. Minus the seeds.

She couldn't allow him to continue unless she wanted to faint from too much blood rushing to her brain.

"Please focus." she cut him off.

Gokudera (whom hadn't been looking at her as he started praising her) immediately snapped his attention away from the way the sun was reflected from the tiles of her roof, looking down at her just as Tsuna managed to get the red away from her cheeks.

He had to clear his throat once again.

"It wouldn't feel right to me." he finally admitted, getting to the point she had wanted him to reach. "A woman as lovely as yourself should only commit to such intimacy if your feelings for your partner is genuine, and your partners feelings for you are genuine as well." Gokudera frowned at the idea of anyone being intimate with the innocent-looking girl now almost swaying where she was standing due to the blood once again rushing to her head. He didn't notice anything.

He shook his head free of images where his Juudaime was being manhandles by faceless suitors and finally reached the true answer to her question.

"So, no." he answered, his eyes filled with nothing but the stone-cold truth. Even though the words he spoke left the exact opposite temperature to Tsuna's face. "Unless I come to harbor such feelings towards you myself, I could never touch you in such a manner." he finished with his eyes narrowed into a look of seriousness that said he meant every word, and when he meant something, nothing in the world could ever change his mind.

It wasn't until now that he actually noticed the changes to Tsuna's complexion.

"Juudaime, your face is red." he noted with a light frown of worry.

Tsuna brought up her hand to trace her cheeks with the tips of her fingers.

"I'd be surprised if it wasn't." she admitted, her voice sounding not just a little bit dazed.

It was such a strange, new sensation that she could have never expected that she would get to feel after her mother had explained why her cheeks turned red when she was speaking about Tsuna's father.

Suddenly, a look of shame spread across Gokudera's features.

"F-forgive me." he stuttered (what in the world?), throwing his head down in a low bow.

He remained in that positions for about ten seconds before he raised his head to look up at her once again. The awkwardness clearly showing on his face.

"Did I embarrass you?" he asked, his voice low.

Biting her lip, Tsuna brushed her hair behind her ear.

"You didn't embarrass me..." she insisted, despite the eyebrow Gokudera raised as her words. "You just... describe me as some sort of untouchable queen or goddess." she shifted her weight from one foot to the other, staring down at them as she did so.

Gokudera raised himself to his natural length, looking down at Tsuna in disbelief.

"It's... kind of new to me." she nervously rubbed her skin, finding the way he was looking at her really uncomfortable.

"Juudaime..." Gokudera muttered, making the girl look up at him from just under her eyelids. "Your modesty just makes you even more beautiful."

Her face flared up in color once again.

"Stop saying things like that!" she frantically waved her arms in front of her, backing away from the man. It was like she was trying to wave away his comment.

Gokudera just looked at the girl, allowing her to calm down enough for some of the bright redness in her cheeks to fade away before he even thought about opening his mouth.

There was something he just needed to clarify.

"Juudaime." he spoke up, causing the girl to turn towards him.

So she was starting to answer to him calling her that then. He almost smiled at that.

Shaking his head, he clenched his fingers as a way of preparing himself for what he was going to ask, or more possibly, the answer he was going to receive.

"You never did answer my question." he pointed out. "What do you want me to be in your eyes?"

Blinking rapidly, Tsuna tried to look anywhere but at the man in front of her.

"Well..." she bit her lip, trying to figure out how to say what she wanted. "Since I apparently can't be rid of you..." she sighed as she sighed heavily.

Shaking her head, she turned her head back towards Gokudera.

"A friend." she finally managed to say.

That almost seemed to shock Gokudera more than the whole lover thing.

For a good minute, all he did was stare at her, his olive eyes thrown wide open. He was like a statue permanently welded onto the gate. Though who would actually have something like that Tsuna didn't know as if sounded very bothersome.

Once the need to blink became too much for Gokudera, he snapped out of his almost petrified state, shaking his head to bring himself out further.

"A friend?" he repeated, furiously ruffling his hair before he could bring himself to look up at her again. "You want me... to be your friend?"

The way he said it... it have Tsuna the impression that the thought of anyone wanting to have _him_ as a friend was utter blasphemy to him. Like he had long ago come to terms with the fact that something like that would never actually happen apart from in the most insane and wildest pats of his deepest and most secret dreams.

It made her feel for him.

She had the exact same mind-set just weeks previously after all.

Hopefully, it wouldn't take a bullet to the stomach before he realized that perhaps he should start to think a little bit differently than he did before.

Scratching her forearm, Tsuna scrunched up her face in an awkward expression.

"Is that too much to ask?" she asked after a moment's hesitation.

"No..." Gokudera replied immediately, automatically, and if she wasn't reading too much into it, just a little bit dazed. Then, shaking his head, he forced himself to look at her again. "No, of course not." he repeated, now with his voice sounding more sure of himself, even though that state of disbelief could still be found if one really listened for it.

Clearing his throat, Gokudera composed himself as best as he could.

"If Juudaime wishes it, then I would gladly be your... friend." the said the last word still with a dazed tone to it.

Despite herself, Tsuna bit her lip.

Hearing that sentence. "If Juudaime wishes it." still sent unpleasant shivers running down her spine, like someone had poured needles down her shirt. But she supposed that it was better than nothing.

"I hope that's the last thing you blindly follow." she practically begged.

"Of course." was Gokudera's instant response. "I would never consciously do anything that makes you uncomfortable."

Slowly, Tsuna nodded, though her neck felt rather stiff. A fake smile was plastered on her face, clearly revealing her true emotions concerning the situation before she looked away from the teen who's eyes were now practically sparkling with adoration.

"Right..." she whispered to herself.

He had said the word consciously, which meant that so long as he didn't know that he was doing it, it could make her as uncomfortable as possibly.

She really wasn't looking forward to that.

Suddenly, the front door was unlocked.

"Tsuna-chan!" Nana called out from the front porch, causing both teens to turn towards her. "If you don't hurry up, you're going to be late!" and with that said, she once again disappeared into the house, leaving the door open for her daughter.

Glancing down at her watch, Tsuna realized that her mother was right.

She should have started walking about three minutes ago had this been a normal day.

"Oh no." she muttered under her breath.

She hated having to hurry in the morning, especially when she hadn't had time to finish her breakfast.

Seeing the look on her face, Gokudera decided to do something about it.

"Don't worry Juudaime." he told her with a smile. "Take your time."

At her confused look, Gokudera gave a nod towards the bike that the girl in front of him had apparently forgotten was even there.

"When you're ready to leave, I'll give you a ride."

Tsuna's eyes flew open in shock.

As much as she emotionally appreciated the offer, she remembered the last time he had given her a lift and the thought made her remember the fear she had felt at the speed of which he had been driving.

Noticing her hesitant expression, Gokudera's face formed into a look of disappointment.

"That is... if you don't mind riding behind me."

Looking back at the guy, Tsuna sighed heavily.

She had been doing a lot of that.

"I've done it before..." she muttered softly, just loud enough for Gokudera to peak up at the sound of her voice, his expression brightening just a bit. "I can do it again..." scratching her hand, Tsuna mentally questioned her own sanity.

She bit her lip again.

"Just... mind the speed."

The guy positively lit up at this. Smiling brighter than she had ever seen him smile before (which, by the way, wasn't much).

"Of course." he answered, finally taking his hands away from the gate.

Nodding in appreciation, Tsuna took a deep breath.

She couldn't believe that she was actually going to do this.

"I'll be back in a minute."

With the grace only years of ballet lessons could acquire, Tsuna spun around on the heel of her shoe, sending both her hair and her skirt flying. Thankfully, the skirt didn't reveal anything private from Gokudera's height.

The man stared after the girl as she disappeared into the house before he went to pick up his helmet, just remembering that he even had one.

* * *

Inside the house, Tsuna went through the doors to the kitchen where her mother was waiting for her, a serious expression on her face.

"We will talk about this when you get home young lady." Nana said as she held out the two lunch boxes towards her daughter.

Groaning, Tsuna snatched them from her mother's hands.

Nana just watched as her daughter stuffed the two boxes into her bag, her mind running a hundred miles an hour at what she had seen go on between her daughter and the bad-boy looking teenager on the bike.

She didn't know how she felt about Tsuna's relationship to the man.

Then again... it wasn't like she could complain about it seeing as she could remember a certain young man looking even worse when she had first met him.

The thought brought a bright blush to her cheeks.

"Alright, I got to go." zipping up her bag, Tsuna threw one more look at her mother.

"Bye!" and with that, she rushed back towards the front door.

"Have a nice day!" Nana called after, though half of this sentence was screamed at a closed door as her daughter disappeared on the other side.

When Tsuna walked out of the house, threading her arm through the loops of her bag straps, she half-jogged over to the gate where Gokudera had already placed himself on top of the vehicle, the helmet between his hands as he waited for Tsuna.

When she reached the gate, the teenager threw her the helmet.

She caught it clumsily between the palms of her hands.

Looking at the helmet for a second, Tsuna raised her eyes to look at Gokudera, her one eyebrow arching in a silent way of asking, 'really?'

"Still only one helmet?"

"I have never had the need for a second one." he answered with a shrug. Apparently not thinking that having a second helmet mattered.

Well, it mattered to her so he would just have to deal with it.

"Then get a second one."

Putting on the helmet, Tsuna opened the gate and stepped up towards the vehicle.

She hesitated for a moment before she actually got on behind the teenager, feeling a sensation of dread spread over her spine as she remembered the last ride Gokudera had given her.

Finding a place to put her feet, Tsuna glanced over to notice Gokudera looking at her from the corner of his eye. Her eyes drifted to his strong-looking back and swallowed heavily.

She would have to get that over with wouldn't she?

"Is it alright if I...?" she motioned with her arms, her face flaring up into a blush as she looked at Gokudera's face from over his shoulder.

Smiling lightly, Gokudera understood what she was trying to ask.

"Of course Juudaime."

Gently, he reached behind, wrapping his fingers around Tsuna's wrists. He made a mental note at just how thin said wrists were before he gently brought her arms up to wrap around his torso. Of course, he ensured that she was comfortable enough before he let to.

Tsuna blushed lightly before she allowed her head to rest on the back of his shoulder.

Kicking the engine into gear, Gokudera glanced over his shoulder.

"You ready?" he asked, wanting to be sure that she was alright with the ride, unlike he had done the first time he had her on the bike.

"Just go already." she whispered into his back, wanting to get to school so that she wouldn't have to remain in that position for too long.

And he did. Speeding away down the street.

Thankfully, to Tsuna's relief, he kept to the speed-limit.

They didn't notice the two pairs of eyes that had been staring at them from the windows, and still following them until they disappeared around the corner.

* * *

Reborn watched as his students drove away with Gokudera Hayato.

Ever since he had aided her progression ability, he had watched her more intensly than he had before.

What he had done was very dangerous. If he had gone wrong, or if he had assumed wrong in believing that she could handle it, the progression ability could eventually cause her physical heartrate to spead up until it becomes too fast for her body to handle and it bursts out of her chests from it's strength.

So far, she had showed no essential changes other than experiencing a sense of courage where she had previously been nothing but shy.

But there was no way of knowing if side-effects could develop later on, and he needed to be around should that ever happen.

He swayed a little where he was standing.

He hadn't slept since he had used that technique on his student. And he couldn't allow himself the pleasure of sleeping until he knew for sure that his students wasn't going to suffer any side-effects, which wouldn't be until about three weeks.

He was in desperate need of a nap.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright... I hope you guys enjoyed that.**

 **Now, I have decided that I shall return to updating on a specific day of the week as that allowed me time to write one chapter a weak, which actually turned out to be a really good time as it kept me focused on finishing writing just one chapter per deadline and with the pace of which I can write at if I'm seriously into it (two pages per 30 minutes), it gave me time for my other interests as well, besides this one.**

 **Now, I'm not writing on anything other than this, but that doesn't mean I'm not drawing fan-art for other shows.**

 **Anyway.**

 **I WILL have the next chapter up by one of the days of next weak, and that day will set the day of which my updates will appear.**

 **Of course, sometimes I will upload chapters in celebration, but after that, I will immediately return to the weakly updates.**

 **Hey, it's better than monthly updates though, right?**

 **Later.**


	10. Target 10

**A/N: I know, I know, I have been gone for over a month, but my interest unfortunately wandered after I had already wrote half the chapter (my Mom suspects I've got ADD but I've never really been tested for it). I couldn't find the flow and whatever I tried writing just came out forced, so I took a break from writing this and returned to it when my interest once again returned.**

 **So, once again, I'm really sorry, and I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 10:**

 **Best friend by default**

The students all turned their heads at the roaring of a familiar motor reacher their ears as they entered the school grounds about twenty minutes before classes would start.

They turned their heads just in time to see the well known motorbike of one Gokudera Hayato driving towards the school. Surprisingly early too as the teenager usually got to the school either late of within ten minutes before the class started.

What could have possibly warranted his early arrival?

The first thing they noticed was the lack of the black helmet that he usually had on his head, sending his silver tousles flapping around his head in the wind, the only thing protecting his eyes being a pair of shades.

They didn't notice the second rider until just before they reached the school grounds.

The whispering started within seconds of them zooming past the gateposts.

The second rider's head was hidden under the helmet, so all they could see was the petite body, the thin waist, the long slender arms and legs. The men just couldn't take their eyes off of that figure, they couldn't remember ever seeing a girl in their school with anything like it.

That girl must have worked her butt off to achieve a body like that.

Some of Gokudera's fangirls that had been watching him arrive to school for many days now, were surprised when, in stead of violently jerking his bike to a skidding halt that left two black stripes running along the pavement like he usually did, he eased the bike into a gentle stop, standing it properly among the other bikes.

The girls watched, eyes green with envy as their ideal boyfriend turned towards his passenger and gave her what could only be described as the most charming smile they had ever seen.

At that moment, they noticed the more aristocratic lines to his features.

He looked like a nobleman.

They found themselves going weak in the knees.

The boys watched as the mystery girl gracefully unwrapped her arms from the delinquents torso, allowing them to fall on the seat so that she may steady herself before she swung her leg in a perfect display of her flexibility behind Gokudera's back, not touching him, not showing off anything further than her thigh before both her feet landed on the pavement and she pealed herself off of the vehicle, adding a little half-pirouette as she did so.

The movements seemed so natural, almost like she had done them unconsciously.

They noticed the pondering frown on Gokudera's features as he took off his shades, leaning on the front of his bike.

"Did you do that the last time I gave you a ride?" he asked the girl, bringing the shades to his mouth for him to bite.

So he had taken the girl on before?

When was that?

"Do what?" the girl asked, her voice muffled behind the helmet.

What everyone watching found confusing, was that they found the voice familiar. They just couldn't remember where they had heard it before. They simply couldn't connect that voice with the figure in front of them.

Gokudera leaned back, looking at the girl.

"That leg thing you just did." he mimicked her leg movement with his forearm. "Did you do that the last time too?"

The helmet tilted, giving the viewers the visual means of knowing that she was thinking over his question.

"I... I think..." the girl spoke again, making the viewers once again wreck their brains trying to remember where they had heard that voice before.

Gokudera leaned his chin into his hand.

"You don't know?" he asked, his voice sounding just a bit suspicious all the while keeping the same air of respect towards the girl in front of him.

How could that girl earn the loyalty of a guy like Gokudera?

"It's subconscious." the girl answered, bringing up her hands to remove the clasp keeping the helmet in place. "Sometimes... I guess my ballet lessons just kicks into gear and I dance without really meaning to." she fiddled with the clasp for a few seconds, then her delicate looking hands really grasped onto the strap, yanking on it.

"What's wrong?" Gokudera asked, getting off the bike after ensuring that it wouldn't fall over.

The girl let out a small, dejected groan before throwing her hands to her sides.

"I can't get it off."

Gokudera was immediately in front of the girl, his height forcing the helmet to tilt upwards in order for whomever the girl was to look the delinquent in the face.

The teenager had a gentle expression as he slowly raised his hands towards the helmet.

Now that the others thought about it. The size of the helmet was comical when compared to the over-all size of it's wearer.

"May I?" Gokudera asked, his voice sounding strange to the ears of the other students as they had never heard him speak with such a gentle tone before.

The helmet jerked once in acceptance.

Equally gentle as his voice had been, Gokudera lifted the helmet and thus the chin of the wearer, bending his own knees to get a better look before he grasped what could only be the clasp. He fiddled for a moment before he repeated the girls actions by tightening his grip and gave the clasp a yank of his own, only much more carefully as to not hurt the wearer.

"It's stuck." he reported after a couple of more careful yanks. "I'll have to cut it off."

The girl's shoulders tensed.

"Are you alright with that?" Gokudera asked, putting his hands on the girl's shoulders as if trying to steady her.

For a couple of seconds, the girl just stood there, with her one hand clutched in front of her chest before her shoulders heaved and she spoke.

"Just... make sure you don't cut anything else."

Gokudera smiled once again, sending the female population of the students swooning were they were standing. In fact, a couple of them found themselves unable to stand by themselves at the sight of it. And yet, the girl standing right in front of Gokudera seemed to be unaffected.

"Don't worry Juudaime." Gokudera said as he fished out a butterfly knife from his back pocket and expertly flicked it open with one hand. "This is not the first time I have had to cut off a helmet strap."

The students who shared the same class as Gokudera frowned at the nickname he had given the girl. Where had they heard that before?"

Tilting the helmet upwards, Gokudera gently slid the knife in between the strap and what could only be the underside of the girls jaw. The students could see how the girl's fingers clenched at the feel of the metal against her skin.

Then, with a smooth flick of Gokudera's wrist, the strap fell limply away from blocking the girls head from slipping out.

"There." he said with a proud look and posture, expertly flicking the knife closed once again.

Everyone held their breaths as the girl lifted her slender arms and lifted the helmet from her head, and they were meat with a head of familiar messy, dirty, golden-brown hair whose greasy surface shone in the direct sunlight.

Everyone gasped.

Dame-Tsuna looked down at the helmet between her hands, her face twisted with light guilt.

"Great..." they heard her mutter. "Now you need to go two more helmets..."

The student body, was in shock.

Some of them had been going to the same school as Dame-Tsuna since they were in middle-school, and no-one had ever noticed that the girl actually had quite the figure. Even if it was only the thin waist and the length of her arms and legs that did it. She barely had a chest after all and her over-all structure just looked like it should be labeled "FRAGILE", but that didn't matter.

The fact that the schools previously most bullied girl proved to actually be attractive once you couldn't see the birds nest she had for hair...

It was too shocking for words.

"No matter Juudaime." Gokudera said, taking the helmet away from the girls hands. "Money is not a object."

Now their classmates remembered where they recognized that nickname from. Gokudera had suddenly started calling that out since Tuesday morning. So it was a nickname he had given Dame-Tsuna?

What could it mean?

Dame-Tsuna (whom had let her bag drop to the pavement when she had tried to get the helmet off) bent down to pick up her bag from the ground. She was surprisingly graceful in the way she bent her legs, folding them under her body.

So she had taken ballet lessons huh?

As she straightened herself out, Gokudera returned from having put the helmet on the bike. She was just threading her arm through the straps when the teen grabbed onto them.

"Let me." he said, taking the bag from the girl before she could give her opinion on the matter.

"Gokudera-" Dame-Tsuna tried but the delinquent inerrupted her.

"No." he said, grabbing his own bag from the bike. He gave her a smile. "I want to."

Now, everyone knew that most girls, if someone as attractive as Gokudera was to do something like that to them. They would either freeze up in place, blush furiously, become embarrassed, or transform into a giddy mess that melted at his smile.

Dame-Tsuna on the other hand...

First, it appeared as if she would go through with the first alternative with how she was staring at the delinquent without moving a muscle. Then, her shoulders relaxed and much to the surprise of the student body. She smiled.

They couldn't recall one time where they had ever seen Dame-Tsuna smile. And it would take some serious torturing before anyone of them ever admitted that they actually found that it suited her.

Such a simple, gentle smile had lit up her features in such a way that showed off just how attractive she could be despite the birds nest she had for hair.

As the two kept on walking, Dame-Tsuna kept talking.

"Good." she praised (quite out of nowhere actually), her right hand grasping her left forearm as she walked next to the delinquent.

Gokudera frowned at her word.

"What is?"

If anything, Dame-Tsuna's smile grew, if even just a little bit.

"You just said 'no' to me." she answered, speeding up her steps towards the building.

For a moment, Gokudera stopped walking. Just staring after the girl.

Then. He smiled.

"I did... didn't I?" and then, he hurried after the girl. He reached her side just before they entered the school building, leaving the rest of the student-body gaping after the two of them.

It took a while before one of the students decided to voice what was on everyone's minds.

"What. The. Hell?"

This was the broken up sentence that started it.

"SINCE WHEN DID THEY BECOME FRIENDS?"

"No... no... Dame-Tsuna probably became Gokudera's bitch."

"Don't let her hear you say that. Remember what she did to Mochida?"

All students then broke into gossip. Throwing assumption after assumption at one another, completely forgetting that they should enter the building as well.

* * *

They were looking at her.

She could feel the tingling at the back of her neck from their stares.

Ever since she had walked through the doors to her classroom, closely followed by Gokudera, it was like her classmates simply weren't capable of taking their eyes off of her.

It's didn't help either that she had a sneaking suspicion that most of the males had finally noticed her more form-fitting attire, thank you Reborn (please note the sarcasm).

Trying to push the feel of the stares out of her mind, Tsuna attempted to focus on the remains of her breakfast, wanting to finish it before class actually started.

She only had a few bites left when her desk suddenly fell into shadow.

Cautiously, Tsuna allowed herself to peak up at the cause of the shadow through her bangs.

There stood the lightly curved figure of Sasagawa Kyoko, her eyes glittering with a gentle determination that Tsuna could practically feel radiating from the girl's presence.

She had been harnessing her own determination for so long that seeing it in others has become easier than noticing a tree ten feet in front of her.

Looking over the other girl, Tsua noticed the bandages lining Kyoko's right arm and leg from where the asphalt had scraped it up.

Hopefully, it didn't hurt the girl too much.

Noticing that Tsuna's attention had been turned on her, Kyoko smiled.

"Morning Swada-chan." she greeted kindly.

Tsuna turned her head up fully.

"Sasagawa-chan?" she asked, allowing her face to show the question just as much as her voice.

Kyoko smiled even more.

Cautiously, minding her injuries, the orange-haired girl slipped into the chair in front of Tsuna's desk, allowing her injured arm to rest on the back of the chair so that she could look her classmate right in the eye.

Tsuna took notice of the light flinch in Kyoko's muscles as she moved but it wasn't all too bad.

"I wanted to thank you." Kyoko said, causing Tsuna to look up from her observations. At her lightly confused expression, Kyoko elaborated. "For what you did yesterday."

Immediately, Tsuna shark shyly back into her chair, her hands coming together to fiddle with her own fingers.

It wasn't that she wasn't proud of what she had done to Mochida, she actually felt uncomfortably pleased knowing that she had gotten him back for what he had done to her... but hearing someone else mention it, thanking her for it...

That was just too weird.

Ignoring Tsuna's reaction, Kyoko kept talking.

"You were pretty cool." she said, causing Tsuna to snap her head up to stare at the other girl in obvious disbelief. "To stand up to Mochida after what he did to you..." she smiled even more at the thought. "That was really amazing."

Tsuna returned to her fiddling.

"It wasn't amazing..." she muttered, so low in fact that Kyoko had to strain her ears to hear what she had just said.

She opened her mouth to tell Tsuna that she was wrong when said girl cut her off.

"And I wasn't cool..." she said, now with a bit more confidence. "I was furious."

Now, it was Kyoko's turn to look shocked.

She just stared at the girl in front of her, watching as Tsuna continued to twiddle her fingers, for once in her life too absorbed in her own mind to notice Kyoko's reaction.

"I just..." she kept talking. "I didn't want him to mistreat another girl so I just... snapped... I guess." she finished her sentence with a conscientious grimace and a glance upwards towards the face of the other girl.

Now, she couldn't help but to notice the shocked expression on the other girl's face.

"What's wrong?"

Kyoko had to shake her head to get her mind back on track, and when she did, she just kept looking at the girl, until she managed to finally open her mouth.

"You were angry?"

A look of mild understanding spread over Tsuna's face. She could only imagine what it may have looked like to the people watching. She didn't know how she had looked back there, but she had a strong feeling that it had been nothing like how she usually acted.

"Seething." she answered, letting out a deep breath as she allowed herself to fall forward on the desk (mindful not to land on her breakfast), folding her one arm over her head. "I haven't been that angry for about six years."

She felt the increase in flame flow as she recalled said point of anger.

She forced herself to snuff out the spark of anger before it took root.

Kyoko blinked for a few moments before she could bring herself to open her mouth again.

"You... you didn't look like you were angry."

"Well, I was..." Tsuna muttered as she straightened herself out. Wanting something to do with her hands she picked up her spoon and began pocking at what little remained of her omelet.

Glancing up at the other girl, Tsuna decided to make it easier for the girl and give her at least a bit more than just that.

"My father's the same, so I guess it runs in the family."

As much as she had not known about this particular trait of their family before, she remembered seeing her father frightfully calm once when he was still around, she had rounded the corner to find him talking on the phone with that eerie calm only she hadn't thought about it much.

Now she understood that he had been angry at the time. Now all what was left would be to figure out what he had been so angry about.

Now that she thought about it... he did leave just a few days later...

She had been so caught up in her own thoughts that Kyoko had to reach out and touch Tsuna's hand in order to regain the girl's attention.

"Sawada-chan." Kyoko said once Tsuna once again looked into her eyes.

She smiled at her kindle.

"Is it alright if I call you Tsuna-chan from now on?"

Tsuna practically fell out of her chair. Her spoon fell out of her hand, clattering to the surface of her desk.

It was her turn to blink before she could bring herself to say anything.

She couldn't help herself. She smiled.

"Sasagawa-chan..." she breathed in disbelief. Unconsciously, she brought up her hand to brush her hair behind her ear in that gesture everyone in their class had become so familiar with once they actually took the time to notice her.

"I... I guess." she answered, her one shoulder shrugging upwards in a gesture those who happened to be watching at that very moment found oddly adorable considering who it was.

Kyoko was marveled at the sight of Tsuna's smile.

It was so rare, and it really suited her.

Mentally, she wished that the girl would smile more often.

She could help it, she ignored the pain in her arm and threw her arms around the other girl's shoulders, hugging her as tightly as she could without causing all too much strain on her injury. She just felt that the girl needed a hug.

At the sudden movement of Kyoko, Tsuna had frozen in her seat, now knowing what to do when confronted with a situation like this.

Kyoko didn't seem to notice this though.

"You're so cute when you're embarrassed, Tsuna-chan." she giggled, running her uninjured hand over the girl's tangled and just a bit greasy hair, but she was too absorbed in simply hugging the adorable girl.

Finally, Kyoko pulled away from Tsuna, though she kept her hands on the girl's slender shoulders, smiling right at her.

"Then, call me Kyoko as well." she insisted.

"Kyoko-chan?" Tsuna asked cautiously, even more bewildered than before.

This brought a laugh from the lips of one of the schools most popular girls.

"That's it." she giggled, nodding encouragingly.

"I hope we can become great friends."

Still bewildered, Tsuna had to pinch herself to ensure that she wasn't dreaming.

"Friends... with me?"

"Of course." Kyoko answered as though it was the most obvious answer there was. "You're such a sweet girl Tsuna-chan. I'm surprised we didn't realize before."

It was all too good to be true.

Just a few minutes after she had managed to talk Gokudera into being her friend above subordinate (why whould he want to be her subbordinate anyway?), the most popular and kindest girl in school was openly asking her if she wanted to be friends with her.

How did this happen?

Then again... Tsuna was never really one to question things too much.

"Thank you..." she muttered, her mind still slightly a daze.

"Don't mention it." Kyoko said, patting Tsuna on the hand before she got back off the chair. She threw one look to the food-box still on the desk.

"I'm doing to leave you to finish that." she said with another one of those absolutely lovable smiles, and then, she left for her own desk.

Tsuna was left sitting there, trying to collect her thoughts, as well as her spoon, unable to fully comprehend what had just happened.

Shaking her head, she told herself that she would think about that later.

Now, she had to finish the last couple of bites of her breakfast before their teacher arrived.

* * *

During English class, Tsuna found her throughts drift back to the conversation she had had with Reborn the evening before. The reaction he had had when she had asked him to tell her more. More about what she knew he was keeping from her.

She wanted to know more about the origin to her fire.

She wanted to know more about this Gitto ( **A/N: No. This is not a type-o. The name has always been Gitto in my head and so it shall forever remain. Personally, I actually think it sounds better (easier to pronounce to name one of the reasons). Also, if you people check the family tree Reborn shows Tsuna, you will find that his name is actually Giptto. So there. Now please, quit remarking on it.** ) person that was her ancestor.

She wanted to know who were the "our" he mentioned were, and who the history was written for.

Unfortunately, if she knew her tutor right... she would never get her answers.

* * *

The end of the day had come faster than Tsuna had honestly expected it to.

During every break she suddenly found herself having a conversation with at the most three classmates who wanted to know just how she had beaten Mochida as easily as she had appeared to have done, but she had never been able to give them a proper answer.

She needed to keep her abilities a secret after all.

Thankfully (she couldn't believe she was saying this), Gokudera always pushed the students away whenever he noticed that she was starting to become uncomfortable with the seeming endless amount of questions they were asking her.

No one went against Gokudera when he had that annoyed expression on his face.

Now, the final class had wrapped up and the students were heading home for the day.

Kyoko gave Tsuna a hug before she slipped out the building, leaving Tsuna to continue her usual tradition of staying behind until there were less people in the building.

And this time, Yamamoto had also remained behind.

This was her chance!

Quickly, forgetting the existence of Gokudera in the room, Tsuna rushed towards the athlete, hoping that she would be able to finish what he hadn't allowed her to the day previous.

"Yamamoto-san!" she called out, successfully hindering the other teen from disappearing behind the other side of the door.

He turned towards her with a light smile. Probably the most genuine one he could muster when he knew he couldn't fool her with one of those smiles.

"Yo, Sawada." he said, though his voice held a note of exhaustion.

She bit her lip.

He was getting worse.

Fiddling with her fingers, Tsuna opened her mouth to say just what she had been meaning to the day before.

"I-" she couldn't get out more than that.

"Sorry Sawada, I can't talk right now." the athlete said, raising his hand to silence her. "I need to keep going." and with that said, the athlete was gone. The only indication that he had ever been there being the echoing sounds of his running footsteps down the school hallways.

For a moment, she just stood there, staring at the emptiness of the doorway with wide eyes.

She. Couldn't. Believe. Him.

Shaking with the disbelief of the moment, she really couldn't stop what she did next.

"Egghead!" she screamed at the top of her lungs in her annoyance.

She knew that was very out of character, but she just couldn't believe how ignorant a person could really be. She had known that Yamamoto was oblivious, but come on!

She stood there, clenching her hands in the first bit of irritation she had felt in a long time until someone (it's kind of obvious who) walked up behind her, lightly tapping her on the shoulder to catch her attention.

"Juudaime." Gokudera said, glancing out the door with an even more annoyed expression than the one he usually wore. "Won't worry about that guy."

"I do worry." Tsuna argued, glancing out the door as well, biting her lip. "He's going to get hurt, I just know it."

"Juudaime." Gokudera put his hands on her shoulders, turning her towards him. "You have enough to focus on without worrying about that baseball-idiot."

With that said, the guy held out the bag she had packed before she had decided to approach the athlete. She took hit after a dejected sigh of resignation.

There was nothing more she could do about the matter at the moment, and he was right, she did have a lot to do, like she still had to figure out what do do with her art assignment.

How in the world was she supposed to make a drawing of her best friend when she didn't...?

Wait a minute...

She had two friends now...

And since Gokudera became her friend before Kyoko so...

Technically speaking...

By default, Gokudera was her best friend.

She might just be able to turn in an art-assignment after all.

Now... she just had to somehow find it in her to ask him...

He most likely wouldn't mind too much if she asked it, but she didn't think now was the time to ask if of him, she still had time after all and she really didn't have the supplies.

She'll just ask him later.

* * *

Sitting in the tree outside the window, Reborn was finding it really hard to keep his eyes open.

The normal human being could stay awake for three days... but sadly, that rule didn't apply to him, and it was really starting to take it's tool on him.

What would the other's say if they saw him now?

He had seen when the school athlete had rushed out of the school and from the way his muscles had moved, he could understand why his student was so worried about him.

He just hoped that that worry wouldn't be the cause of the side-effects.

* * *

 **A/N: I know this is a bit short a chapter after I have left you humans hanging for such a long time, but this is what I had set up for this chapter and now, it is finally completed.**

 **I will be back with another chapter whenever I can as I feel like I haven't quite completely dug myself out of my creative ditch (I haven't actually written on anything since I stopped writing on this) so we'll see when the next one comes up.**

 **I hope I didn't anger too many people with the Hiatus.**

 **Please tell me what you think. Your reviews have always left me wanting to keep writing on this even if I seriously, seriously haven't been able to continue.**

 **I mean it, I only stopped writing on this because I suddenly started hating everything I was writing.**

 **Laters.**


	11. Target 11

**A/N: I just can't even...**

 **I'm over 300 followers?**

 **Oh. My. God.**

 **I bloody love you you wonderful, fantastic, fucking BEAUTIFUL humans. (Please excuse the language in my excitement)**

 **Anyway. I'm fucking down with a cold at the moment, but that ain't going to stop me now that I finally got my groove back on!**

 **I'm sorry for the hold-up but I'm afraid that I only had the interest for that one chapter back then before I slipped away to another fandom (I'm a fandom hopper). But, I'm back, loving what I'm writing again, and hoping that it will last long enough for a couple of chapters.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 11:**

 **Greatest egghead of them all**

Tsuna had awoken the morning that followed feeling as though a heavy blanket of dread had covered the entirety of Namimori, shrouding it with thick clouds blocking out any sunlight that may have wanted to slip through and warm up the cold earth underneath it.

For a moment, Tsuna completely forgot that it was only a few days left until the start of summer break. With the multitudes of different grays that colored the town, it looked more as though autumn was pulling in ahead of time.

She didn't linger on that thought though.

After performing her regular morning ritual only she added an orange and white raglan zip-up hoodie to her uniform, she carefully tucked in her best case of colored pencils alongside her sketchbook, ensuring that it wouldn't suddenly pop open during the day with a rubber band before she went down for her breakfast.

Just like the day before, Gokudera arrived outside the house when she was in the middle of eating, only this time, her mother didn't insist on her going out to talk to him.

Gokudera had thankfully not asked her if she wanted a ride back home when they had come out of the building yesterday, since he didn't have any helmets anymore she didn't think that would be very safe so he had simply accompanied her home whilst leading the bike beside him.

Her mother had practically thrown a giddy fit when Tsuna had stepped in though the front door.

* * *

She had barely gotten the time to take off her shoes when the woman had suddenly attacked her, her voice unnecessarily loud, making Tsuna winch at the first word that came out of her mother's mouth.

As if the words themselves wouldn't already do that.

"Ne, ne, Tsuna-chan!" the woman had practically squealed into her ear as she jammed her hands on her shoulders with such a force it nearly sent her legs buckling beneath her. "Is that guy your boyfriend?" she jerked her head towards the closed door.

Tsuna could feel the blood rushing to her face at the suggestion.

"MOM!" she screamed in shock, her eyes nearly popping out of her skull with how wide she had pried them open.

She had just gotten to know the guy for Christ's sake!

Plus, she wasn't looking for a boyfriend anyhow.

At her scream, Nana practically yanked her hands away from her daughter's shoulders, holding them up as if in surrender.

"I'm just asking." then, she got that teasing look in her eyes. Leaning forward, her arms crossed under her chest, she asked with a much more restrained tone. "So... is he?"

Still blushing furiously, Tsuna brushed her hair behind her ear, refusing to look her mother in the eye.

"No." she replied quietly. "He's not my boyfriend."

Sighing heavily, Nana straightened herself out, letting her chin fall into the palm of her hand as she stared openly at the closed door.

"That's a shame." she said, tilting her head the slightest. "He sure is handsome though."

Still blushing, Tsuna adjusted the strap of her bag all the while refusing to look at her mother's dream-like expression.

"I know he's handsome." she muttered, feeling as though her face was on fire.

Huh... now she knew what that felt like.

Even though her hair was still comfortably seated behind her ear, she brushed it back once more. Doing this, she actually caused a few strands to fall back over her eyes.

"I'm just..." she could feel her mother's eyes on her. "I'm just not looking for anything like that." with that said, she allowed herself to look up at her mother.

Oh no... she could see that teasing glint return to her mother's chocolate orbs.

This wasn't good.

"So, if you were..." the woman began.

"Bye." Tsuna cut her off, trying to quickly make it around the woman to the stairs. Which proved to be hard as the woman kept putting herself in her daughter's way, a slight smirk on her lips.

"He could be your-"

This was strange...

This wasn't that unusual a behavior for Nana, she always jumped on the first chance to see Tsuna's face turn a bright red, so the feeling shouldn't be that different.

However...

Somehow... right now, the feeling felt somewhat...

Amplified.

It was hard to explain but... it was like her blood was pumping through her body at a quicker pace than it had ever done before, like her heart was beating overtime.

What was going on?

She didn't allow herself to dwell on that though.

Shaking her head furiously, Tsuna finally found an opening between her mother and the wall and shoved herself past.

"I'm not talking anymore!" she practically screamed as she rushed up the stairs, the sound of her mother's giggling echoing behind her.

She hadn't noticed the hulking shadow of her tutor in the kitchen door, his face absolutely pale and beads of sweat running down his forehead as though he had a fever.

He had followed her with his eyes, his expression masked in indifference to hide the worry trapped behind it.

* * *

When Tsuna finally exited her house that morning, she was glad to find that there were two helmets sitting on the bike with Gokudera.

She didn't need to tell him this, he understood that the thankful expression on her face was directed to that.

As she stepped out through the gate, Gokudera had already sat down on the bike with his own black and red helmet perched on his head, hiding the majority of his face apart from his eyes that were visible through the screen he had opened.

As she came up to him, he held out a helmet that surprisingly, was blue, red, and orange ( **A/N:** **Think the helmet Tsuna had during Choice** ), it was surprisingly more fitting to her personality, not to mention including her favorite color.

Where did he get that kind of info?

She didn't think about that for too long, making sure that her bag was safe on her shoulder before she took the helmet from the guy's hands and put it on, finding it surprisingly comfortable.

Once her arms were safely wrapped around Gokudera's torso, they were off.

* * *

The day had progressed pretty well considering.

It was even worse than it had been yesterday after she had beat Mochida.

Now... now... now she was apparently Gokudera's bed-warmer, and apparently, he had been the one who had taught her how to fight the way she had done two days ago.

Yeah, because Gokudera _always_ fights with pirouettes and high-kicking (personally, she had the feeling that he preferred a form weaponry that allowed him to think strategically when on the battlefield, and if that didn't work, he took to his fists).

Speaking of fighting.

As her classmates were discussing the rumors at high enough volume that everyone around them heard it, Gokudera was currently at his wits end.

* * *

He couldn't stand that these idiots were speaking in such a way about _his_ Juudaime.

Sitting at his desk, his one hand clutching at his hair, the other was furiously tapping his pen against the desk, leaving markings on the wood from the tip.

He had been in the middle of developing his own type of writing when the gossip from the people around him had reached his ears.

He couldn't believe the sheer idiocy of the people he had been forced to surround himself with.

How could they believe that Juudaime would allow herself to be in the same bed as him? How could they believe that anyone would have to teach Juudaime in order for her to beat up that poor excuse of a human male?

He had half a mind on blowing up every piece of shit teenager that had opened their mouth the past fifteen minutes but he knew Juudaime wouldn't be happy with him if he did.

In fact... he would probably scare her away once again if she saw him with those things in his hands...

No.

He wouldn't do it.

Not yet anyway...

* * *

When Lunch break rolled in, Tsuna had to clench her hands around her chopsticks as Gokudera slipped in in front of her desk with whatever convenience-shop bought lunch he had in order for herself to gather up her thoughts.

This was probably as good a time as any for her to ask.

Closing her eyes, she willed just a tiny bit of flame to seep into her bloodstream, helping her along the way towards a calm enough mind.

She allowed her fingers to ease from their death-grip.

It was when Gokudera was ripping the plastic off of his sandwich that she found the courage to open her mouth.

"Gokudera-kun."

At the sound of her voice, Gokudera almost dropped his lunch, but he quickly composed himself so that he could look at her with a calm enough expression.

She had to swallow before continuing.

"Can I ask you for a favor?"

Immediately, Gokudera's face lit up in what could only be explained as somewhat-contained excitement, the corners of his mouth curling upwards in an equally somewhat-hidden smile. Though why he would want to hide his smile, she would never understand.

Putting down his sandwich, Gokudera appeared to be bracing himself against her desk.

"Anything."

She could have sworn that she saw his eyes sparkling.

Brushing her hair behind her ear, Tsuna took a deep breath before she "dropped the bomb".

"Model for me?" her fingers once again clutched at her chopsticks at her own words, her eyes closing tightly as though she was expecting a punch to the face.

Any tighter a grip and they would snap.

The two sat in complete silence for what felt like forever before Tsuna managed to scrape up the courage to open her eyes and actually look at him.

Where she hadn't been able to open her eyes, it looked as though he had trouble closing them. He was openly staring at her as though she was some kind of alien that had landed in a space-ship right in front of him.

Finally, he too managed to get himself to move.

"What?" he asked, his voice unusually quiet for the "explosive" personality she had come to associate him with.

Quickly, Tsuna launched into an explanation about how she had been assigned a project for art-class where they would have to paint a portrait of their best friend, as she talked, it was as though she had no control of her arms, gesturing all around her in exasperation, thankfully, she didn't actually hit anyone in her movements. Once she reached the part where she had to tell him why she had chosen him, her arms fell down so that she could fold her fingers over her lap, her eyes locked on said fingers so that she wouldn't actually have to look at him as she spoke.

She probably would have begun repeating herself had Gokudera not reached forward to grab hold of her arms, pulling them up so that he could grab her slightly shaking hands.

With an actual, gentle smile on his mouth, he looked her straight in the eyes.

"I would be honored, to have you paint me Juudaime." he said, his voice filled to the brink with sincerity that quite frankly, it made Tsuna uncomfortable.

Slowly, she wormed her hands out of his grip.

"Stop saying things like that." she whispered, her voice only loud enough for Gokudera to hear as she brushed her hair behind her ear.

Gokudera just kept smiling that same smile, ignoring the absolutely shocked expressions of their classmates surrounding them.

They honestly hadn't thought that the guy _could_ smile, much less in such a gentle manner.

"So." Gokudera spoke up, leaning over the desk, ignoring the fact that practically everyone in their class were listening in on their conversation now. "Where do you want it done?"

Tsuna, being more aware of the looks her classmates were throwing them, leaned over the desk with a gesture of her finger to indicate that she wanted him to come closer.

Thankfully, he noticed it, and so, he noticed the classmates looking at them as well.

Meeting her half-way over the desk, Tsuna was able to let her mouth hover a couple of centimeters from his ear, whispering at as low a tone she could manage.

"Can we stay behind after school?"

Still smiling, Gokudera fell back into his seat, his one arm folding over the back as he looked at her.

"I have nothing better to do."

It was a very nonchalant reply, almost like he didn't quite want to do it, but Tsuna could see the excitement in his eyes.

Finally dropping her chopsticks all together, she allowed herself to fall back as well.

"Thank you."

Nodding, Gokudera picked his sandwich back from where it had fallen on her desk and took a generous bite. His eyes still holding on her as she took her own lunch-box from her bag.

* * *

Sitting in his desk, Yamamoto was picking at his sushi-based lunch with his own chopsticks.

He really couldn't understand what was wrong with him.

No matter how much he trained, no matter how much he gave it his all, his muscles only hurt more. He was thinking about getting a massage because of the strange knots he could feel when he poked at his skin, similar to how Sawada had done two days before.

It really was painful. Not to mention, he had never felt so tired before.

Maybe he should take a nap in stead of eating this break?

Yeah... that sounded like a good idea...

* * *

Classes had ended just about twenty minutes ago.

At the moment, Gokudera was sitting at his desk like he usually did with his one arm slung over the back of his chair and his legs thrown up on the desk, but his eyes were pinned on Tsuna, who was sitting Indian-style on top of the desk in front of her, furiously moving pen after pen over the page in her sketchbook she had folded up, every once in a while glancing up at him with that observing gaze that was starting to become etched into his memory.

He watched as she change colors almost blindly from the case lying next to her, and yet, she never hesitated in her movements.

She must know that case inside and out then.

To be truthful, he don't he he had ever seen her as naturally confident as he was doing now. He had seen her approach that piece of shit Mochida with absolutely no fear, nothing but confidence written over her face, but it hadn't felt natural to him.

Now however, watching her draw... now, she was in her element.

Now, she was at home with what she was doing.

Finally, he couldn't hold in the question anymore.

"Honestly." he was pleased to see that she didn't jump at his words. The only sign that she was listening to him at all being the curious glance she threw at him over the top of her sketchbook. "I would have never pegged you as an artist."

For a second, Tsuna's pen stopped moving, but she quickly continued, now keeping her eyes almost glued to the page.

"It helped me calm down when I was bullied."

Gokudera had never been so glad for his above-average hearing, otherwise he would have probably missed her words entirely with how quietly she was talking.

The words themselves made him clench his fingers.

"You were bullied?" he asked, his face twisting into a truly frightening expression. Thankfully, Tsuna's face was still glued to her sketchbook.

When she didn't answer him, Gokudera almost flew out of his desk.

"Who bullied you?" he demanded.

Still moving her pencil, she replied after a couple of long, long seconds.

"Practically everyone."

This time, Gokudera really would have flown out of his chair had Tsuna not chosen that very moment to glance over the top of her sketchbook, pinning him with a serious expression.

"Be still."

Not wanting to go against his Juudaime, Gokudera allowed himself to fall back, even though he very much wanted to blow up the whole school for her response.

He had to take a couple of deep breaths before he could speak once again.

"Why would anyone bully you?"

It truly was a mystery to him.

From what he had observed about this girl for the couple of weeks he had actually shared the same classroom with her, the only really negative traits that could possibly be a cause for bullying if you wanted to nitpick was that she was silent, a bit asocial, and not to mention awkwardly shy when someone speaks to her. But as mentioned earlier, that was nitpicking.

Her positive traits... her kindness, her caring nature, her empathy... far overshadowed all those negative traits in his eyes.

He watched as Juudaime's shoulders sagged in what appeared to be resignation.

Sighing heavily, she let her sketchbook drop from her face the slightest, not enough for him to actually see her work, but enough so that he could see her exhausted expression.

"I tripped over thin air, and I could barely get a point during any test."

He frowned.

He couldn't remember witnessing any of that. If anything, she was just barely passing her tests and her performance during P.E. Was in one word. Graceful.

He was more confused than ever.

"I haven't-" he tried, but she cut him off.

"It stopped just a few weeks after the start of term." she let out a long, deep breath. "Thank the gods..."

Gokudera felt as though there was a story behind her words, but he respected that she probably didn't want to talk about that and in stead, settled for another question.

"Do you want me to-?"

Once again, she cut him off.

"No." Juudaime said with a tone of finality that was actually quite out of character for her, but he didn't dwell on it for too long.

In stead, he almost got out from his position. He was stopped by a pointed look from his Juudaime. So he settled for just opening his mouth.

"But they were treating you unfairly." he said with a very familiar frown on his face, but she seemed to be ignoring his face entirely, in stead focusing on the hand he had resting on top of his one knee. Which could actually be somewhat justifiable considering that he had heard that hands were one of the hardest things to draw.

"It's in the past." Tsuna finally said, removing her pen from the paper for a moment and leaning back so that she could see it from further away. "And the past is not something you should be punished for." she proceeded to lift up the sketchbook, turning it around in front of her face so that she could see it from different angles.

For a moment, Gokudera just sat there, openly staring at her.

How could someone be that fucking forgiving?

Finally, he felt a smile creep up in the corner of his mouth.

"You're too kind Juudaime." he heard himself praise her.

Bringing the sketchbook down, she glanced at him from over it's top.

"Stop that."

He could only smile even wider.

He had a feeling that she was only using that sketchbook to hide the fact that her cheeks were starting to turn red.

* * *

About two hours after school had actually ended, Tsuna had finally called out that she was finished and started packing up.

Of course, she had absolutely refused to allow Gokudera to see her work, claiming that she didn't like people seeing what she has been working on until she is one hundred percent finished, and since she hadn't actually gotten her sketch up on a canvas, she wasn't finished.

She eased his mind by telling him that he was going to be the first one she showed it too when she actually was finished.

It was when they were walking through the courtyard towards the bike that they heard it.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

It wasn't a scream of fear.

No...

It was a scream of absolute pain, tearing through the school grounds that really should have cleared out by now and reaching the ears of the only other two who were there.

The two in question, shared a look.

Gokudera, personally, couldn't care less about whoever had gotten hurt enough to scream in such a devastating way. He had heard similar screams one too many times.

Tsuna on the other hand, recognized the voice hidden in the scream, making her eyes widen in unmasked worry.

"Juudaime!?" was all Gokudera managed to shout once he noticed that Tsuna was no longer standing next to him, and in stead, was running towards the source of the scream as fast as her long legs could carry her. And it was actually pretty fast.

Soon, they reached the baseball field, and there, on the ground, lay Yamamoto, clutching his arm all the while trying to dodge the speeding baseballs that were still shooting out of the ball machine in time with a metronome.

Tsuna didn't just stand there watching for long.

"Get the ball machine." she told Gokudera before she threw herself right into the life of fire.

Thankfully, she didn't have to dodge for that long before Gokudera had reached the machine.

With no need to be cautious anymore, Tsuna broke into a full-out sprint, sliding to a stop once she was at the athlete's side. Said athlete, had fallen still on his stomach once the balls had finally stopped flying.

Carefully, she turned him around over the arm he wasn't clutching, only now seeing the small amount of blood that was seeping through his fingers.

At a closer inspection, she could see the problem.

He had broken his arm, and terribly so. Terrible enough that a small piece of his bone was peaking out through his skin.

Thankfully, her worry had taken over her senses once again.

"You egghead..." she mumbled, picking up his head so that she could let it rest on her lap. "You should have kept listening."

She noticed a light flickering to the athlete's eyelids before they parted only the slightest.

"Sawada...?" the egghead asked, though his voice barely came out as more than a hissing whisper through the pain she had no doubt he was currently feeling.

"Juudaime." Gokudera said once he reached her side, crouching down at her side with a frown etched into his eyebrows.

Yamamoto's eyes flickered to the both of them before they rolled into his skull with two short words passing his lips.

"So... tired..."

And then he was out.

Her expression serious, Tsuna tilted her head in Gokudera's direction.

"Call an ambulance."

* * *

Seven minutes later, Tsuna and Gokudera watched as the ambulance pulled out from the school grounds and sped out down the road towards the hospital.

For a few seconds, Tsuna just stood there, her thumbs brushing over her upper-arms as though she was cold, her lower lip lodge in between her teeth and her eyes as though pinned to the asphalt beneath her. Her mind rushing a thousand times an hour.

Finally, she released her lip and made towards where Gokudera had parked his bike that morning, her steps determined.

She could feel the slow pumping of fire rushing into her body, enough to make her feel lighter, but not enough for her emotions to become overrun with that otherworldly calm.

"Juudaime?" Gokudera questioned as Tsuna picked up her helmet from the bike.

"I need to tell his father about what happened." she said, unfastening the strap before raising it above her head.

"You know his father?" Gokudera asked, his eyebrows almost coming together in a suspicious frown. His voice giving off the way his thoughts had turned.

Sighing heavily, Tsuna pulled up the screen on her helmet, giving her friend an exhausted expression with her eyes alone.

"Everyone knows his father." she breathed, her voice coming out muffled through the helmet. "He runs a sushi-shop." she indicated the finality of her words by slamming the screen in front of her eyes shut, blocking off her facial features entirely.

Almost relieved, Gokudera nodded in understanding.

"Okay..." he breathed.

"Come on!" Tsuna exclaimed, snapping him out of whatever thoughts he had almost been caught up by before he hurriedly followed her example and the very next minute, they were off.

* * *

Five minutes later, Gokudera pulled up in front of Yama-Sushi, making sure that his bike wouldn't fall over before he got off.

Of course, that didn't apply to Tsuna.

The second the bike started to slow down in front of the building, she had thrown her leg over the side, jumping off the vehicle before rushing inside, all the while practically ripping the helmet off of her head.

The second she was inside, one of the workers behind the counter turned towards her.

"What can I get you?" he asked her with a smile.

Breathing heavily due to the adrenaline rushing through her body and the furious pounding of her heart that had began echoing in her ears the moment she had thrown herself off of the motorbike, Tsuna shook her head furiously as Gokudera rushed in after her.

"I need to speak to Yamamoto-san." she said, putting her hands on the counter with a pleading look in her eyes. "It's urgent."

Immediately, the smile wiped off of the worker's face, a worried expression replacing it.

"How urgent?"

"Something happened to his son."

Immediately, the worked rushed to the back-room entrance, one hand holding onto the frame as he shouted something Tsuna couldn't hear over the sound of knives being sharpened.

She didn't need to listen to that for long however as the sound stopped dead just a second later. The silence was closely followed by the sound of running footsteps and before she knew it, she was staring right into the eyes of Yamamoto-senior.

"What happened to Takeshi?" the man asked, his voice dripping with worry.

Tsuna had to take a deep breath before she could answer, the furious pounding in her ears hadn't stopped yet.

Seriously, what was up with that?

"He's in the hospital." she said through a series of shorter breaths.

The older man's eyes only became more worried at her words.

"Why is he in the hospital?"

Finally, Tsuna could hear how the pounding sound was subsiding, if only a little.

"His arm broke." she said, watching as the man's previous tan whitened. "It was really bad, the bone was peeking out through the skin." she continued, needing him to understand just how bad it was, even though it was making the man's complexion look more and more ghostly with each word she forced past her lips. "I also suspect that he's over exerted himself because he passed out seconds after we reached him." she motioned with her hand to Gokudera whom she knew was standing right behind her, probably glaring daggers at the man.

Yamamoto-senior had jumped over the counter just before she finished talking, already rushing towards the door.

"Thank you!" he threw back at them before he disappeared on the other side.

For a moment, Tsuna just stood there, listening to the pounding in her ears until finally, finally, it disappeared entirely.

"Must you be so kind Juudaime?" Gokudera asked as he walked up to her, not stopping until he was standing right on her right side, looking down at her with a light frowning expression. "That idiot doesn't deserve your kindness for ignoring you the way you did."

Tsuna found herself frowning at his words.

She tilted her head up towards him, bringing her index finger along with it.

"You need to work on your socializing skills." she told him, pointing at him somewhat accusingly.

This only made Gokudera frown even more.

"I don't need to be kind to be kind to anyone other than Juudaime." he said this as though it was the most obvious thing on the planet, leaving her momentarily at a loss for words.

"Right..." she muttered once she finally found her voice. "Of course."

Shaking her head, she left the shop, knowing that Gokudera was following right behind her.

* * *

Everything was fuzzy in Yamamoto's vision once he finally got the strength to open his eyes, and when he did, he immediately realized that something was terribly wrong.

For one, he wasn't in his own room. In stead, he found himself in what he had first thought was a white box before his vision cleared and he could see the window covered by lightly see-through white curtains and the white door.

He was in the hospital.

He tried to move his right arm, only to shoot out of bed at the pain that suddenly raced through his limb, all the way up to his shoulder.

Hissing, he looked down at said limb, and his blood ran cold.

His arm... his dominant arm... it was in a cast.

He had broken his arm...

No...

No...

It couldn't be...

Staring at the offending limb, Yamamoto could feel his eyes beginning to sting, telling him just how much the sight was hurting him not just physically.

What was he going to do now?

He wouldn't hold a bat like this.

He was brought out of his thoughts at the sound of the door opening.

"Takeshi!"

Yamamoto's eyes widened at the sight of his dad, still in his work clothes, rushing into the room. He took a mental note at just how pale his father looked. Either he had died and become a ghost on his way there, or he had seen one.

Openly staring his father, Yamamoto opened his mouth to say something, but he didn't get the chance to.

"You idiot!" his father said, gently grabbing onto the hair at the back of his son's head, brining them closer face-to-face. "Don't ever do that again!"

"Old man..." Yamamoto managed to say once his dad finally let go of his hair. "What are you doing here?"

The man sat down on the chair next to the bed, putting a hand on his son's cast.

"A young lade came to the shop and told me you broke your arm." he said, looking his son right in the eyes.

This caused Yamamoto to frown.

"A young lady?" he asked.

He knew his father, and he usually called the girls from his school coming to the shop just to see him for just that. Girls.

For him to address someone as "young lady"... she must have made quite an impression on his father in what he suspected to have been only a minute given the subject matter.

"Yes." his father answered with a nod. "A very sweet little thing she was too."

This got Yamamoto thinking again.

He and his father had roughly the same definition of "sweet" when it came to people, and to him, there were only a handful of girls that he knew that could be described as such.

Hopefully, his father would give him more to go with than that.

Thankfully, he did.

"Came to the shop with this very, angry-looking fella with silver hair." the man said, looking up at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression. "Quite the odd combo now that I think about it."

Immediately, all candidates were eliminated in Yamamoto's head, leaving onto one girl of which his father could be talking about.

"Sawada-san?" he found himself muttering.

Every passing day, the girl just kept on surprising him. The last time being the day before when she had approached him after school. She had been trying to tell him something...

Now that he thought about it... he hadn't exactly allowed her to talk to him the past two days since Wednesday and she had looked at his arm with a frowning expression.

The same arm that was now in a cast...

He recalled the expression she had had when he had thanked her that day. Like she couldn't believe what she was hearing, but not in a good way.

Could it be that... she had known this was going to happen?

She had known it would come to this, and he hadn't allowed her to keep talking.

God, now he understood why people kept calling him "idiot".

"You know her?" his father asked, brining him out of his thoughts.

He nodded dumbly.

"She's in my class."

Suddenly, he father smiled widely, patting the cast enveloping his son's arm.

"You should give her a proper thank-you once you're out of here." he said, still smiling.

He clearly didn't see the completely broken look that donned his son's features.

"Yeah..." Yamamoto breathed.

In his head though, another thought struck him.

 _'I am a horrible person'._

* * *

 **A/N: Yay! I've got my creative thread back!**

 **I honest to god hope to everything good and clean in this universe that I will be able to keep it for at least a few more chapters so I can go back to the weekly updates. I know I want to have one up for my Birthday at the very least.**

 **Anyways...**

 **Thing's are started to take form in more ways than one, I just have to introduce a few more characters before I turn this story down an even more "original-story" avoiding curve that I have actually yet to plan out in detail but I will get to that when I get to that.**

 **Please tell me what you think and I will be back with another chapter whenever I can.**

 **Laters.**


	12. Target 12

**A/N: I'm sorry for the hold-up but between by own switching interests and the fact that I have started studying again, I just couldn't find the time to publish this anymore. But, with this term almost over and the fact that I have actually taken the time to plan out the entirety of this part of the story so I hopefully will find it easier to start writing again, I hope I will be able to publish more chapters in the close future.**

 **Anyways, I am absolutely estatic over the fact that I'm over 200 reviews, over 400 favorites, and almost at 500 followers!**

 **And so! Now to what I hope you've all been waiting for!**

 **ENJOY!**

* * *

 **Target 12:**

 **Afternoon collision**

To be frank. Tsuna was feeling rather... weary.

The weekend had come round and so far, she hadn't been dragged into training with her green blooded tutor.

In fact. She had visited his bedroom, and found him completely knocked out on top of his bed, blowing bubbled from his nose and generally looking as pale as a sheet.

Okay... she really hadn't needed that image in her mind.

But that was strange...

Usually, Reborn was always very, very careful to ensure that no one EVER saw him sleeping. She had honest to god through he just never did, but apparently, he does.

Perhaps... he's sleeping those hours he forces her to do that exercise, leaning against the wall with his stupid hat hiding his eyes.

Yeah... she's going to believe that from now on.

So why would he stay up long enough to make him look like _that_?

It wasn't something she particularly wanted to think about.

Alright... so, at the moment, she was sitting in her bedroom, a canvas leaning on the easel in front of her. Something that her mother had found in the attic a few days ago but she had never really gotten the time to actually use with how hard Reborn had been pushing her.

But this time... this time she had to paint for a school assignment, so HA!

Also... she needed to keep her hands busy with something, or else her thoughts would drift away to a certain athlete, whom she had last seen being hauled off in an ambulance.

She didn't know why, but she had this feeling in her gut.

A feeling that told her that things wouldn't end well where the athlete was concerned.

Shaking her head for like the billionth time that day, Tsuna picked out a thinner brush from her collection.

Taking her time, she mixed two shades of olive-green, one lighter than the other before she carefully filled in the eyes of her charcoal sketch all the while glancing down at the colored drawing she had done the day before, just to make sure she got the lighting right.

She had made sure to make as detailed a colored drawing as she possibly could, since she couldn't have the original version in front of her. She didn't like working with photographs as they never truly captured what one sees with the eye and more often than not focus on things she didn't focus on as much when painting.

When she created something, she liked to look at the whole picture through her own eyes first, paying attention to the details she wanted to include without having some of them slightly fuzzed out in photographs.

With outmost care, she filled in the small circle with the colors she had blended, constantly double-checking the sketch for refrence.

This painting was a portrait.

A portrait that she would eventually show the person.

She would have to make this her best work.

* * *

Reborn woke with great difficulty.

For a moment, he was confused.

Why was he in his room?

Why was he feeling relatively well rested?

Then it hit him.

The self irritation flooded up in him as though someone had injected the emotion directly into his bloodstream.

What was he thinking? Falling asleep on the job...

So unprofessional.

He ignored the fact that he was still very much in need of sleep, as well as the fact that his limbs were protesting greatly against him, and practically pried himself off of his bedsheets, making sure his feet were firmly planted on the floor before he even dared to try and actually stand up.

He grimached at his own patheticness.

He hates this side effect.

With great difficulty, he stumbles out of his room, making his way towards Tsuna's.

He had a job to do after all.

He opened his student's bedroom door without knocking, and there she was, sitting in front of an easel with the sun streaming in through the bedroom window, casting her lithe frame in an orange glow.

It could have just been his exhaustion, but Tsuna looked etheral at that very moment.

Reborn had known she was artistic, he had seen her previous paintings, but he had never actually seen her paint. And now that he had... he had never seen her so relaxed.

So this was her zen time...

Reborn found himself just watching her. Leaning against the frame of her door and just taking in how peaceful she looked. Like she didn't have a bloodline that could possibly litterally burn her up from the inside if she couldn't control it. Like she had no worries.

He knew better.

He realy hated that he had to pluck the wings of such an obvious angel.

"Are you sick?"

The voice came so suddenly that it actually startled Reborn, although he managed to rein in his reaction to the point of not actually reacting at all. He simply looked at her as she turned her face towards him, momentarily pausing in the movements of her brush to look at him.

He furrowed his brow in slight confusion.

Even if he wasn't at his best physically, he shouldn't have made one sound in his movements.

"How did you know I was here?" he asked, not moving from where he was leaning.

This seemed to have catch Tsuna off guard.

She turned her attention back towards her painting, eyes narrowing slightly in obvious confusion as she brought the end of her paintbrush up to wedge it between her lips. Reborn had seen her do something similar with her right thumb nail before. So if brushing her hair behind her ear was a nervous habit, possitioning something between her teeth was a pondering habit?

Finally, she removes the brush, tilting her head to the side.

"I... don't... know." she did not sound pleased, or comfortable with this realization.

For a moment, it apeared as though Reborn was frozen in place, then, slowly, a smirk spread across his lips, his head tilting in that familiar way which consealed his eyes in the shadow of his fedora, his fingers tightening around his arms.

Oh this was just too perfect...

He hadn't know whether of not she was going to get _that_ as well as the skin generated flames. He had had a huch but it would have been too much to hope as only two others throughout the entire bloodline had ever materialized _that_ asside from Gitto himself.

Oh... this was just too good.

Her potential was just getting bigger and bigger with each passing day.

He schooled himself before Tsuna turned those brown eyes back in his direction.

"I'm not sick." he assured her, watching as her eyes lightly narrowed in obvious disbelief and her back straightened in prepared defiance. He quickly put up his hand to stop her. "I just got a lot of work right now. It doesn't allow for much sleep."

Tsuna did not look satisfied with this answer.

"Just what kind of work do you do?" she asked, her voice lowering half a note and Reborn could have sworn that her eyes were turning a more caramel color. "I thought you were a "home tutor", and you haven't exactly done any "tutoring" as of late." she didn't bother with air quotations as she turned her attention back towards her canvas, probably needing it finished.

"Do not worry about that now." Reborn instructed, directing his eyes down towards the floor. "Enjoy your break." his tone had an air of finality to it.

Tsuna looked as though she wanted to ask more questions, but a voice rang from downstairs.

"Tsuna-chan! Reborn-sensei! Dinner is ready!" Nana called, saving Reborn from the overly observant eye of his student.

He glanced over at Tsuna, whom had not taken her eyes off of him.

"We'll talk more later." he promised, leaving Tsuna with her paint brush raised in the air over her canvas, staring curiously after him.

Letting out a long sigh, Tsuna returned her full attention to her painting, trying not to let her mind dwell on the obvious secrets Reborn was keeping from her. Secrets that he was obviously loosing sleep over and obviously didn't feel the need to clue her in on.

She shook her head, messy tendrils of auburn hair whipping around her face before she pointedly added the finishing touches to the painting.

With the final stroke, Tsuna leaned back, allowing herself to study her work with a self-critical eye that she had gotten so used to using.

Deeming her work to be good enough, she lowered her paint brush into a glass of water on her desk, allowing the paint to leave the strands while she ate.

The last thing she did before leaving her room was hang up the painting on the wall, allowing a pair of bright olive green eyes to guard her safe heaven whilst she were away.

* * *

The plastic bag rattled as Gokudera stepped through the automatic doors of the convenience store, half-heartedly rummaging through the contents with a bored expression on his face as the humid afternoon air hit him in the face.

He shoved a chocolate covered onigiri to the side, trying to locate his pack of cigarettes that he knew lay somewhere at the bottom of the bag.

He was in desperate need of a smoke.

He had sworn some time ago that he would never smoke in the presence of his Juudaime, combine that with his desperate need to be around her as much as possible for as many days of the week as he could, and you get one anxty serial smoker.

He wasn't regretting his decision however. He couldn't possibly endanger Juudaime's lungs by smoking when she is around him. Juudaime should live as long a life as she can, a life that should never be shortened by his constant need for a stick of tobaco between his lips. Maybe he should start thinking about quitting all together.

But that brought up all new problems considdering...

He sighed heavily as his fingers finally closed around the familiar pack.

It didn't even take a second before he had one of the rolled pieces of paper in his mouth, a lighter already setting the tip aglo.

He took a deep breath as he allowed one hand to slide into his pocket, the plastic bag hanging from his bare forearm as he locked the cigarette between the indew and middle finger of his free hand, removing the cancer stick for a brief moment as he ehaled a large cloud of smoke into the air, even creating a few circles as he went.

He was absolutely disgusted with himself.

Honestly, Juudaime was far too kind to even allow him within a ten meter radius from her.

Just as always, he found his thoughts circling Juudaime, but to be quite honest, he couldn't help it, nor did he want to stop.

He couln't help but to wonder what she was doing at that very moment. Wheather or not she was feeling well. Whether or not she remembered to eat properly and on a regular basis. Whether or not she was actually going to paint his portrait.

The second he thought that last one he gave himself a mental beat-down.

How could he have doubted Juudaime's intentions? Her word?

She had told him that she was going to make a portrait of him, so he would have to trust her that she was going to finish it!

Trust huh...?

That wasn't exactly a comon concept for him, but he would do anything for Juudaime!

He had just rounded the corner on his way back to his apartment when suddenly, a weight rammed right into him. It probably would have knocked him over had he been someone else, but as it was, he was only knocked backwards a couple of steps before he regained his balance.

He looked up just in time to see whatever had run into him sprinting away as though it's life depended on it.

And if anyone knew Gokudera, it most likely did.

"Watch where you're going you fucking bastard!" he screamed in anger after the retreating figure, his cigarette having fallen from his fingers in the colossion.

It was a kid.

A very small, thin kid too, with a mess of curly black hair and wearing tworn jean shorts with a dirty over-sized cow-print shirt that hung on the kid's gaunt frame, flapping in the wind as he rushed away from the scene.

He was barefoot.

The sight of the kid brought unpleasant memories back to Gokudera, but he refused to allow himself any moment of weekness.

Not anymore.

Grumbling loudly, he ruffled his hair violently as he stomped on the fallen cancer stick.

This just wasn't his day was it?

Ten minutes later, Gokudera closed the door to his apartment.

It wasn't much. Just a three room thing. A bathroom, a bedroom, and an open area that was a mix between kitchen (which has rarely been used), living room, and entry hallway.

He had barely any furniture, just what he needed.

Letting out a deep breath, Gokudera allowed himself to fall against the wood of the door, one hand running through his bangs as all energy seemingly left him now that he knew for sure that no one could possibly see him.

Reining in anger was a very exhausting thing. Only around Juudaime did it become natural.

Only Juudaime could possibly quell his constant annoyance.

A flash of Juudaime's smiling face entered the front of the delinquents mind. Such a small, gentle smile that somehow managed to light up her entire face, warming her features, making the air around her seemingly glitter.

The memory brought a smile to Gokudera's own face.

He chuckled silently as he wandered into the kitchen, allowing his bag to fall onto the counter before he started to unpack it, still with that gentle smile on his lips.

Two packs of milk. Four ramen packs. Ten store bought lunches of different varieties that had interested him. Five chocolate covered onigiri. Three bottles of mineral water. Six cans of coffee. And seven nutrition bars.

It wasn't nearly enough to fill his fridge, but it would be enough to serve as food storage for the week to come.

Growling, he shoved his hands into his pockets.

He should probably start thinking about actually learning how to cook actual meals. What he has been living on up to this point has left him looking almost gaunt, and that would not look intimidating should he need to take the offensive, and he knew that would one day be needed if he was going to protect Juudaime.

He shoved his hands into his pockets, fishing out his cellphone.

He didn't really have the attention or money for learning something so...

His wallet...

Where was his wallet?

He knew he had put his wallet in his right pants pocket after paying for the things, so why wasn't it there now?!

Furiously, he ripped out the contents of all his pockets, sending his lighter, crumbled pieces of paper and a couple of coins rattling to the ground. But no wallet.

Letting out a loud growl, he brought up both his hands to ruffle his hair, clutching at the strands to the point where he almost ripped them out by the roots.

Think... he needed to think...

He wasn't clueless enough to simply leave the wallet at the counter of the store, so he had pocketed it and then walked outside. So someone must have knicked it from his pocket on the way to the appartment, but he hadn't walked even remotely closed to-...

A flash of unruly black curls and a dirty cow-print shirt filled Gokudera's mind.

That kid...

That fucking kid!

That cow-brat had knicked his wallet when he rammed into him!

Oh that kid was so dead...

"Damn it!" Gokudera growled loudly, spinning around and stomping back towards the front door, yanking a jean jacket as he went as he was sure the temperature had dropped significantly ever since he entered the building. The temperature was already plummeting on his way back without the sun.

His hand was already angrily gripping the handle when a distinct sound reached his ears.

The caller alarm of his cellphone.

Growling again, Gokudera seriously thought about just leaving it to ring, but he recalled a conversation he had had with Juudaime when he had allowed that to happen once during lunch.

* * *

 _The signal rang through the air so suddenly that it caused the petite girl to jump, almost dropping her chop-sticks at the movement._

" _Are you alright Juudaime!?" Gokudera frantically asked, his fingers clutching at his sandwich as he stared at the girl, making sure she didn't make any awkward movements as she collected herself. It may have appeared as though he was too protective of the girl (and sometimes he were, he was willing to admit that), but he never knew when Juudaime actually hurt herself from the simplest of movements._

 _He had once seen her hurt her finger by putting her book down._

 _She was getting a better feel for her previous lack of orientation, working away her klumsyness bit by bit the longer he knew her, but there was still that protective nature hovering over his head whenever she was near him._

" _Yeah..." she answered softly before scrunching up her face in annoyance."What is that noise?"_

" _It's my phone." Gokudera answered, equally annoyed as he fished up the offending object, turning off the alarm before it could cause Juudaime any more discomfort. He didn't even bother to check the number, he knew he didn't have it in his contacts list._

 _This appeared to baffle Juudaime._

" _... aren't you going to answer it?" she asked, setting her lunch box asside so that she could completely focus on him._

" _It's no one important." Gokudera insisted, putting the phone back into his pocket._

 _This brought a small frown to Juudaime's face._

" _How can you be so sure?"_

 _Gokudera looked up at her, pinning her with his bright olive eyes, a look on his face that he was sure would express the hidden message to his next words._

" _No one calling me is important."(_ only you).

 _Sighing, Juudaime brushed her hair behind her ear in that usual nervous gesture he had become so accustomed to, however, there appeared to be an air of annoyance to her overall posture that peeked Gokudera's curiosity._

 _He didn't often see this particular emotion on Juudaime._

 _Eventually, Juudaime managed to collect herself enough to look him right in the eye with as much determination as her still somewhat timid nature allowed her to show. He was proud that she was beginning to shed that aspect of herself, but ten years of bullying was hard to brush off, no matter how used to it she had gotten to it._

" _Gokudera-kun... what if I were the caller?" she asked, voice surprisingly steady, her gace unwavering._

 _This caught Gokudera by susprise, but he didn't dwell on it._

" _But Juudaime is here, in front of me, so you can't be the caller."_

 _This appeared to annoy Juudaime even more then before, bringing an exhasperated sigh from her lips as she leaned back against the rooftop fence surrounding them._

" _But what if I weren't there, and your phone started ringing. What would you do then?" she looked at him intently, silently begging him to understand what she was trying to convey._

" _Fine..." he sighed, giving into his Juudaime's wishes. It would do no good to his emotional state if he somehow managed to make her angry. He still couldn't fathom why the simple choise of not answering a phone seemed to bother her to such an extent. "I'll at least check the caller ID when I'm alone."_

" _Good." Juudaime responded, a gentle smile spreading across her lips again, filling Gokudera with the sence of accomplishment._

* * *

Growling again in frustration at his own promise, Gokudera furiously ruffled his hair as he stomped back to the counter. He clenched the ear-piercing object in his hand for a moment before he actually pressed the green button and pressed the offending object to his ear.

"WHAT!?" He screamed into the device, pooring all of his anger out on whomever it could possibly be that was keeping him from blowing up the thief.

For a moment, the person on the other line was completely quiet. Gokudera actually hoped that he had managed to scare the person enough for them to hung up and leave him alone so he could catch himself a cow-brat.

Then, to his horror, an all-too familiar sigh sounded from the other end.

"... what happened?" the gentle suprano voice of a young woman asked, acting as though she were completely used to his snapping voice.

And she were.

"J-Juudaime!" Gokudera found himself exclaiming, almost colapsing to the floor in shock as all previous anger completely washing away from his system at the sound of that gentle tone. "I-I am so sorry!" he leaned foreward on the counter in a minor panic, desperately trying to clear his head to deliver the appropriate excuse. Thankfully, he succeeded. "I didn't check the caller ID."

He mentally beat himself up for making such an amaturistic misstake.

"I figured." Juudaime sighed on the other end. "So what happened?"

Gokudera's eyes glistened with unshed tears. Trust his Juudaime to be so forgiving!

Quickly, Gokudera schooled his own emotions, straightening his back and turning around in order to lean back against the counter, his one arm folded in front of his chest, hand hooked at the fold of the arm still holding up the phone. It appeared to be a very relaxed possition, but by the looks of his tense shoulders, he was just barely holding himself back from blowing up into the speaker, and thus probably shattering his Juudaime's eardrums.

A long, irritated sigh escaped the smoker's lips.

Should he light another one? He didn't exactly get to enjoy the first one after all...

He shook his head at the thought.

In stead, he obted to simply answering his Juudaime's question, not even bothering to try and come up with a more pleasing excuse. Not that she wouldn't catch onto the lie either way.

"My wallet was snatched by some kid just after I bought this weeks provisions." he didn't even seem to notice that he was sounding more like a soldier giving feedback to his superior than a friend relaying information to another over the phone.

Juudaime however, seemed to notice this just fine.

A long breath of resignation could be heard on the other line before Juudaime spoke again, her voice carrying a monotone note to it.

"And... you were just about to go out looking for him to give him a piece of your mind." the way she said it made it sound so natural, so obvious, like that was the only thing she could expect Gokudera to do, but the very tone of her voice stated that she wasn't happy that she knew him well enough to know how little controll he has on his temper.

They had only known each other for a couple of weeks and Juudaime could already guess his actions on par with one who had known him for years.

Was he honestly that easy to read? Or were Juudaime's observational skills even more remarcable than he had originally thought?

"...Juudaime..." Gokudera found himself muttering, his arm falling from where it had rested against his chest, moving down to grip the edge of the counter in stead.

Juudaime sighed again, this time more in exhasperation.

"Please, Gokudera-kun." her voice pleaded with him. "You'll only get yourself into trouble."

She sounded genuinely concerned, even worried. Of course she would, Juudaime was one of the most selfless people on the planet! In the short time Gokudera had known Juudaime, he had started to suspect that she didn't even know the meaning of the word 'Selfish'. It simply didn't excist to her. She didn't care what happened to her, only those around her.

Juudaime was far too good. She really weren't suited for this kind of life...

After a moment of silence, Gokudera closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before he spoke.

"As you wish, Juudaime."

"Thank you." Juudaime breathed out on the other end, sounding as though she had been holding it the entire time she had gotten no response from him.

He could practically hear the greatful smile she most likely wore.

Then something hit him.

"Juudaime... may I ask why you called?"

For a split second, there were no response from the other line, then, finally, it came.

"Oh, right!" she exclaimed, momentarily forgetting that she probably shouldn't be screaming straight into the phone, not that the thought of lecturing her about it ever entered Gokudera's mind. He had, after all, started off the conversation by shouting into _her_ ear, so he figured this would be good punishment.

"The portrait's done." Juudaime answered his question, now suddenly sounding somewhat self-conscious, as though she were debating whether she should have called just to tell him something that would probably had been blaringly obvious on Monday.

A sense of calm washed over Gokudera's being.

She had actually finished it...

A portrait of him...

"Can't wait to see it." Gokudera said, his voice barely more than a whisper, and he was almost shocked at just how soft his voice was.

On the other end, Juudaime gave a nervous laugh. He could just see her furiously brushing her hair behind the ear she doesn't have a phone pressed up against.

"I can only hope you'll like it." she mumbled uncertainly.

Gokudera had to hold himself back from chuckling.

"I'm sure I will." he said reasuringly, looking up towards his ceiling. "Juudaime is the one who made it after all." he said the last part as though that answered everything, and to him, it most probably did.

"Seriously... stop talking like that." Juudaime mumbled. Gokudera could practically hear the blush donning her pale cheeks, just under the messy fringe.

He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his throat.

"No."

She was silent for a long moment, but Gokudera knew she wasn't offended by his defiance. If anything, he had the feeling that she was currently shaking her head, smiling at how freely he felt he could oppose her word now.

Even though he probably shouldn't feel proud of telling Juudaime 'No', she always encouraged him to be defiant with her. She probably felt as though there would be a time where that one 'No' would hold a lot of weight both to her and to him.

Finally, she spoke.

"I'll see you on Monday."

He didn't really want to stop talking to her. It had only been so brief, but Gokudera knew that Juudaime probably had other things to worry about asside from talking to him.

So he relented.

"Until then, Juudaime."

And so, the line went dead on her end.

Honestly, Gokudera couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips as he brought the phone down from his ear, gently placing it back on the counter as he leaned against it, his eyes closed and a small smile playing on his mouth.

Truly, Juudaime was just too adorable sometimes.

His eyes snapped open.

What?

What the fuck did he just think?!

He couldn't think such things about Juudaime! She was a young lady of a much higher standing than himself, there was no way she was 'Adorable'.

No matter how much it does appear to be true...

Her absolutely tiny and delicate exterior, her nervous habits, her soft voice, her embarassed face. She really did love to try and proove to him that she really were the thing one might call children and small animals.

Thought sometimes she did remind him of a rabbit...

NO!

No, no, no, these thoughts had to stop!

He could think of her as attractive, that is a given as Juudaime could be nothing other, but if he went any further in his thoughts people would actucally start to believe that he wanted more out of her than just her friendship. Fuck, even friendship was asking too much out of her.

Even if she had been the one to have asked it of _him_.

Speaking of things she had asked of him.

Olive green eyes trailed over to his front door, his mind rolling over her request as well as his own sickening need to track the cow-brat down and blow him up to smitherines.

He shook his head trying to clear his thoughts.

Sighing, he reached into his back pockets unclasping a strange circular obviously electric object that had been fastened to the fabric of the pockets insides hard enough so that it wouldn't fall out every time he reached into them.

He brushed his thumb over the small lamps lining something awfully similar to the retractible lense protector of a camera, glowing a bright red.

Those lights were the indicator that these particular objects had not been used ever since he had arrived there, and for the most part, that was a good thing, but a small part of him still felt the aching absense of any real exhitement ever since he arrived in Japan.

It was too calm here for him to be.

He turns the devices around in the palms of his hands, pondering.

Finally, his long fingers close around the devices and he finds himself stalking over to a very out-of-place painting of a beautiful mansion with an impressive garden locked up behind tall iron gates that looked more haunting in comparison to the otherwise beautiful scenery.

Gokudera gave the painting a passing glare before he violently shoved it to the side, revealing a moderately sized safe mounted into the wall.

It didn't appear to have either a handle, or a wheel for the owner to enter to combination, it was just a plain dark gray metal door to the naked eye, but it most certainly wasn't.

With practiced hands, Gokudera rapped on the metal with the back of his right middle finger, watching with a bored expression as the door changed, the cold gray color being exchanged for a glowing touch screen that soon spelled out the words.

 _Please enter password._

Gokudera wasted no time in typing in the six letter password that made the door automatically open in front of him, revealing it's contents.

Money. Boundles of emergency money that he stored away in care of extreme emergency such as sudden eviction or in need of spontanious redecorating/renovation.

It was also there that he stored a purple velvet necklace case containing a silver locket with a lily engraved onto it.

It was too presious for him to even think about touching.

He glanced down at the devices in his hands.

"Just for the weekend." he promised himself before leaving them inside the high-security door.

Eyes closed, Gokudera stalked towards the large windows covering the entierty of the living-room portion of the room wall.

Silently, he stared out over the illuminated small town with a scowl on his face.

"Next time I see you cow-brat, I'm going to kill you."

* * *

Back at the Sawada residence, Tsuna had just pulled a pale blue t-shirt over her head to go with the white hot-pants she had chosen to sleep in that night.

With only a week to go before summer break, the nights had become far too hot for her to even think about sleeping in her regular night-gowns, and as much as showing this much skin left her feeling naked, she would have to deal with it.

It wasn't like anyone at her school was going to see her like this anyway.

Scratching her scalp from under the bird's nest she called hair, she turned towards her bed, only to see someone already sitting on it.

Reborn looked possitively dying. His skin was pale and appeared to be clamy, his clothes that usually clung modestly to what could only have been a slim yet athletic body now hung loose around his frame. Tsuna also had a feeling that should he look up at her, she would find his eyes sunken in and surrounded by dark bags from a lack of sleep.

She really didn't like seeing her tutor this way.

"Really." she insisted, crossing her arms under her almost non-existen chest. "What's wrong with you?" she gave him a concerned look from across the room.

He didn't answer her.

In stead, he rose to his feet on surprisingly unsteady legs, and stalked towards her, wavering dangerously, each step looking as though they were physically hurting him.

Tsuna's brow furrowed into a concerned frown as she watched him.

Finally, he stood in front of her, and just as she had expected, his eyes were sunken and outlined with dark skin, making him resemble more of a skeleton than the admittedly attractive man she had become so accustomed to spending her afternoons with.

His dark, bloodshot eyes stared down at her, pinning her where she stood.

"Have you been feeling funny as of late?" he asked, his deep voice unusually week sounding.

Tsuna shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Feeling uncomfortable under the lifeless stare he kept on her.

Were he even blinking?

"What kind of funny are we talking about?" she asked catiously.

He really weren't blinking...

Reborn took one step closer to her, his entire demeanor looking almost crazed in the shadow of her ceiling lamp.

"The past couple of days..." he muttered, eyes wandering over her being inspectingly. "Has it happened that you suddenly felt as if your heart was beating unusually strong or fast?"

Tsuna flashed back to the morning before she had asked Gokudera to be her model. How her embarassment at her conversation with her mother had felt strangely amplified. She recalled the strength of which she had heard her heartbeat in her ears when she had rushed into Yama-suchi after having just sent Yamamoto-san off in an ambulance.

So... that hadn't just been her imagination...?

Her hand rose up, brushing her hair behind her ear.

Immediately, Reborn's eyes narrowed, not once looking away.

"Is there... something wrong with that?" Tsuna asked uncertainly, shifting her weight once again.

"Listen to me." Reborn could have been screaming the words for how strongly they hit her in the face, even though in reality, his words had been barely more than a calm, quiet whisper.

He reached out his hands towards her, putting them on her shoulders.

Immediately, she felt as though her own bodyweight had doubled all of the sudden, it almost made her knees buckle under her.

"Whatever you do..." he brought his face in close to hers. "Try not to get overly exhited for the next few days." there was something in his voice that spoke of urgency, something she had never heard from him before.

"What would happen if I do?" Tsuna asked softly, trying not to make her voice tremble under her tutors intensive gaze.

For what seemed like a minute, Reborn didn't say anything, just keeeping his eyes pinned on her, locking her in a staring competition she was too scared to break.

Finally, he sighed.

Stepping away from her, Reborn staggered slightly, brighing up his hand to rub the bridge of his nose in obvious exhaustion before he glanced at her.

"It'd be better for you if you don't know."

And with that, he just left, not giving her the chance to ask anything else.

He had gone far too long without sleep to be any more social for the day.

* * *

Reborn almost crashed into his bedroom, forcing himself to lean against the door once he finally managed to close it after the third attempt as he rubbed his temples to try and clear his head of the wave of nausia that had suddenly attacked him in the hallway.

What was he going to do?

What _could_ he do?

He did not have the attribute for this kind of thing!

He would have to somehow get his hands on a Rain within the next week or his student was going to be in a great load of trubble.

He sighed in irritation at the very thought.

He did _not_ want to contact... _him_.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright humans! The chapter that took me MONTHS to complete due to inspiration lapses and overall temporary lack of interest.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this and I will be back with another champter as soon as I can.**

 **Please tell me what you think, it always makes my days look all the more brighter than they already are with the turn of the seasons.**

 **Much love.**

 **Laters.**


	13. Target 13

**A/N: I hope you like the cover picture, I drew it myself!**

 **Anyway... as I have been absent from this story for so long, I want to make it up to you eautiful humans with another chapter!**

 **I don't really know what I think about the quality of the writing in this, I felt it came out a bit wonky at some spots but I followed the outline I had already laid out for the chapter and it became finished much faster than I had honestly thought it would.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Target 13:**

 **Bottled up negative emotions**

Monday came round faster than Tsuna honestly could emotionally prepare herself.

That morning, she sat on her knees on the floor of her bedroom, deliberately dragging out her preparation time as she carefully wrapped up her now dry portrait in a dirty violet linnen cloth, fastening it with safety pins before attatching the make-shift strap that would allow her to carry the thing on her back.

She had already eaten breakfast before she set to do this.

She was nervous, terribly so. In fact, she had to actively rein in the flame release in her bloodstream so she wouldn't be held back by tingling fingers.

She had been so wrapped up in wrapping the painting that she barely registered her mother entering the room, looking down on her with a sort of... contained habital exhitement.

She smiled gently before she opened her mouth to speak.

"Gokudera-kun is waiting outside."

A safety-pin almost slipped out from between Tsuna's index finger and thumb at the sudden wave of anxiety that hit her stomach. She knew that it most likely weren't needed seeing as the young man in question was just Gokudera, but she couldn't help it.

She let out a shaky sigh as she rose from the floor, gracefully swinging the contraption onto her back before turning towards her mother.

"Thanks."

She made to walk out the door when her mother suddenly put a hand on her arm.

"Are you sure he isn't your boyfriend?" the exhited look on her face was all anyone would have needed to get a good guess on what she were thinking, so when someone like Tsuna looked at it, she got hit by all the suggestive things Nana most likely thought Tsuna and Gokudera got up to every time they were alone on the school rooftop.

"Mom!" Tsuna found herself exclaiming, yanking herself away from her mother's grasp. "We are just friends." a louder than normal beat of her heart warned Tsuna that she should probably calm down if she didn't want to experience the side-effects Reborn hinted at.

Nana's expression told Tsuna that, once again, her mother didn't believe her claim.

"It's true!" Tsuna almost screamed, throwing her arms up in the air, one of her hands clutching her school bag. "We really are just friends!"

She didn't stay around to listen to her mother's insistance in her belief that Tsuna was just too shy to tell the difference that morning. In stead, she retreated towards the stairs, gracefully sprinting down them before bolting towards the front doors.

As she rushed outside, she failed to notice a pair of sickly obsidian eyes watching her from his own bedroom window.

* * *

Gokudera had been smoking when she got out.

Leaning against his bike like he usually did, only this time, he had had a cigarette locked between his index and middle finger, ocasionally bringing the stick up to his lips, holding it there, and ther proceeding to blow out a cloud of smoke as he pulled it away.

He had looked very much relaxed, then Tsuna bolted out through her front door.

Instantly, Gokudera stiffened.

Quickly, just as Tsuna reached the gates, Gokudera flung the cancer stick out of sight with a quick flick of the wrist. He straightened himself out just in time for Tsuna to reach his side.

Having noticed his action, she shook her head exhasperatedly.

"You don't need to hide your habit from me." she insisted, looking over his tense postrure, taking in the small twitch of his finger. How long had he gone without a cigarette? "I already know you're a serial smoker."

Gokudera's shoulders slumped the slightest before slowly, almost in a resigned manner, turning towards her by the shoulders.

"I am aware of that..." he mumbled, sounding very ashamed of himself for some reason. His olive eyes trailed the ground for a second before looking at her again. "But to smoke when in the presense of Juudaime is very improper." he turned fully towards her. "Also... to expose Juudaime to indirect smoking, possibly affecting your lungs..." he didn't seem capable of actually finishing his sentence at how he apparently couldn't look at her either.

Sighing, Tsuna rolled her eyes, shaking her head at his words.

"You don't have to make yourself feel sick because of me." she threw a pointed glance towards his twitching fingers. "If you feel the need to smoke, you can you know."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, a small smile playing on his lips.

Then, his eyes locked onto the thin rectangle strapped to her back. Curiosity sparked in those olive green orbs as he turned fully towards her.

"Is that the painting?"

Tsuna threw a glance over her shoulder, nodding slowly as she looked back at Gokudera's expecting expression.

She brushed her hair behind her ear.

"I'm not showing it to you yet." she stated, a finger hovering in the air between them as she made her voice sound as final as she could despite the air of self-consciousness hovering over her.

A small frown played on Gokudera's eyebrows.

"Why is that?" even though he looked a bit annoyed, his voice had a teasing tone to it.

"It took five minutes to wrap it!" Tsuna exclaimed humorously, throwing her arms out strongly enough to make her school bag dangle viciously from her hand. "I'm not going to do that again!" she waved her arms in a mock childish manner, trying to keep a serious expression.

It didn't last long.

Soon, she and Gokudera both burst into quiet laughter.

"Let's go." Gokudera said, jerking his head in the direction of the bike before he himself got on, handing her her helmet as he did.

Having the helmet on, Tsuna carefully adjusted herself behind her friend, locking her bag between his back and her stomach before wrapping her arms around his torso and the two of them sped off down the road.

* * *

Minutes later, the two of them walked into the classroom, Tsuna with her schoolbag hanging from the fold of her arm and the wrapped-up portrait clutched between her hands.

"Ohayo!" Kyoko's sweet voice sounded from her desk, waving merrily in Tsuna's direction.

"Ohayo." Tsuna greated back, a gentle smile on her lips as she walked into the room, Gokudera closely following behind her.

Setting the painting down next to her chair, Tsuna slumped into her desk, watching as Gokudera slipped down into the desk in front of her, the chair's back pressed up against his chest as he turned his full attention towards her.

There was something expecting in his eyes that Tsuna couldn't place.

She shrugged her shoulders exhasperatedly.

"What?" she found herself asking.

Gokudera threw a pointed look down towards the floor, right where the painting rested.

Tsuna rolled her eyes at his eagerness.

Bending down, the tips of her fingers brushed against the cloth wrapping when the sound of the classroom door slid open, closely followed by terrified squeaks from the female portion of their class.

Heads snapping in the direction of the sound, the two teens were met by the sight of one Yamamoto Takeshi standing in the doorway, his right arm wrapped up in a thich cast, and a positively heartbreaking look on his face.

It wasn't that he looked sad that made it so heartbreaking, it was the fact that he made a pathetic attempt to smile through the attention of their classmates.

At least, it was pathetic in Tsuna's eyes...

It didn't appear as though the others even caught on to the pain in his hazel eyes.

"Yamamoto!" one member of the baseball team cried out in horror. "What the hell happened to your arm!?"

"Oh this?" Yamamoto laughed, holding up the cast covered limb for all to see. "I seem to have practiced a little too much last Friday." he lifted up his good arm to scratch the back of his head. "The force of the ball just became a bit too much and the bone just... gave way." he closed his eyes, still smiling that hurtful smile. "You know how I program the pitcher machine."

The class continued with the questions, such as:

" _Are you alright?"_

" _How long till the cast comes off?"_

" _Will there be any permanent damage?"_

" _How did you get to the hospital?"_

He didn't answer any of these.

Some probably would have figured he was being rude, but all Tsuna could see were the deep lines of exhaustion rounding his eyes, making him look even more deflated than he had done the couple of days before she confronted him about them.

Releasing a deep breath, the athlete sunk into his desk.

A worried expression etched into Tsuna's featured, she turned around in her chair towards him.

"You doing okay?" she asked, her voice soft but surprisingly strong through the constant buzzing of the classroom.

He didn't look at her.

"Could have been better..." her answered, not even bothering to try and put up a happy front for her. He knew she wouldn't buy it. "But not too bad... I guess."

Discreetly, he glanced up at her through his eyebrows.

"Thank you..." he mumbled. "For getting me to the hospital... and telling the old man."

Even though he didn't sound all that grateful, Tsuna allowed a small compassionate smile to curl her lips. She knew he most likely didn't have that easy a time at the moment, considdering his right arm was his dominant one.

Well... he would have to practice writing with his left arm then...

He would come out of the cast ambidextrious.

"It was the least I could do." Tsuna said with a pointed tone that she had the feeling Yamamoto didn't get, which was a wonder in itself.

Had he forgotten that day?

Behind her, Gokudera threw a glare in Yamamoto's direction.

"Damn right you should be thankful for Juudaime's kind heart." he declared, his voice telling Tsuna he was just holding himself back from screaming.

Yamamoto turned his attention towards Gokudera, a strange, unreadable expression in his eyes.

Calmly, Tsuna put her hand on Gokudera's forearm, making him turn towards her. Her eyes told him everything he needed to know, and he forced himself to sit back down.

She turned back towards Yamamoto, smiling lightly.

"I'm glad you're alright."

Their conversation didn't go any further than that as their teacher walked into the classroom, forcing the entire room into silent, mechanical motion.

Tsuna turned away from Yamamoto.

Gokudera returned to his own desk.

Yamamoto himself, just sat there, eyes locked at the back of Tsuna's head, all he could see being a tangled mess of golden brown hair really, but it didn't matter.

"I'm not alright." he mumbled through the noise of chairs scraping against the floor.

* * *

As the lunch bell rang, Tsuna fished her bento out of her bag, looking up just in time to see Gokudera settling down on the desk in front of her in the exact same manner as he had done that morning.

Once again, he threw a pointed glance towards the wrapped up painting.

"Can I see it now?"

Sighing, Tsuna bent down, fishing the painting up from the floor before she carefully removed the safetypins keeping the cloth in place. She found herself hesitating before she allowed the fabric to slide down from the frame, unravelling before falling down into Tsuna's lap, revealing the full portrait to her.

She bit her lip for a second, then, quickly, she turned the painting around for Gokudera to see.

The boy absolutely froze in his seat.

Almost robotically, he reached out towards the canvas, closing his fingers around the frame as he gently picked it from Tsuna's hands.

He studied it in complete silence for what felt like forever, Tsuna's brown eyes pinned on him the entire time, just waiting for his evaluation.

Their sudden silence seemed to have attracted the attention of their classmated as some of them broke off their on-going conversations to peer around in their directions, curiosity sparking in the majosiry of their eyes as they realized what Gokudera was holding.

The boy in question raised his hand to stroke his fingertips over the painted lines, his face hidden from Tsuna's view.

"So..." Tsuna's soft voice broke through the silence, brushing her hair behind her ear. "What do you think?"

Gokudera didn't get the chance to answer as some of their more curious classmates decided they just couldn't stand being left in the dark for much longer and peeked at the canvas from behind Gokudera's shoulders.

Their reactions were quite humorous.

"NO WAY!" One of them screamed, eyes thrown open wide enough that Tsuna legitemately worried that they would pop out of their sokets as his arms shot out, latching onto the canvas and yanking it out of Gokudera's hands to get a closer look.

Furiously, the guy whipped his eyes back and forth between Tsuna and the painting in his hands.

"Dame-Tsuna..." he breathed in disbelief. "Did you really paint this?!"

Immediately, it appeared as though the whole class swarmed the scene, shoving each other asside in a desperate attempt to try and get a look at the painting.

Eventually, they decided to just pass it between each other, each of them exclaiming their shock at the painting. It was like courus of indirect praise that made Tsuna dizzy from the blood that rushed to her head.

Those emotions froze however, when two hard beats resonated through her ears.

Seriously! Just how easy was it to cause that kind of effect?

Tsuna violently shook her head, hoping that the air from the movement would calm down her blush enough to make her heart do the same.

It took some time, but thankfuly, her heart complied with her wishes.

Oblivious to Tsuna's temporary dilema, Gokudera shot out of the chair, taking up his pursuit of the wandering portrait.

* * *

There was one person however, that hadn't joined in the fray.

Yamamoto Takeshi still sat in his desk behind Tsuna. He had seen the portrait when she had unwrapped it, but as he had gotten to see her artwork before, her skills hadn't been as much of a blow as it were to the rest of the class.

In stead, he just sat there, watching the vicious exchange from the spectators perspective.

His good hand clenched against the wooden surface of his desk.

He couldn't understand it, he really couldn't.

How did Tsuna go from the schools most bullied student to one of the speticles of the student body? He just couldn't understand it!

He stared intently at the back of her head, taking advatange of the chaos surrounding them.

Just how could everything suddenly go do well for her?

Finally, Gokudera's fingers closed around the frame of the canvas, yanking it out of the hands of a frail looking boy with combed brown hair and black framed glasses.

* * *

"Give me that." he growled angrily before heading back to the desk.

The intervention seemed to be the silent indicator that their game was over, and so, their classmates slowly moved back to their own respective seats. Some of them threw one last glance at the painting as they went. Some were even brave enough to ask Tsuna weather they could have the portrait after she had presented it to her arts teacher, to which the response always were:

"You'll have to ask Gokudera-kun about that."

And so the negotiation was over.

Sitting back in the chair, Gokudera looked over the painting again, the amazement now much more prominent in his eyes.

Finally, he looked up at Tsuna.

"You've made me look far too good." he insisted, shaking his head.

This brought a smile to Tsuna's face.

"I guess we have that in common then."

"What do you mean?" Gokudera asked, a frown forming on his brow.

"The two of us obviously think of the other as more attractive than we do ourselves." she shrugged, leaning her chin onto her clasped hands that were propped up by her elbows. She looked Gokudera right in the eye, all sign of previous nervousness seemingly erraticated from her features.

Smiling back at her, Gokudera handed her the painting with careful hands.

He leaned on the back of the chair, his arms crossed as he watched her begin to wrap the canvas in the cloth again with nimble hands.

"Your teacher is going to love it." he insisted.

Pausing momentarily in the wrapping, Tsuna glanced up at her friend, brushing her hair behind her ear with a shy smile before she returned to her work.

Three minutes later she put the wrapped canvas back on the floor, turning her attention back towards her forgotten bento.

Gokudera, as always, has sunken into a store-bought sandwitch.

Neither of them seemed to notice the glances thrown at them from the injured athelete behind Tsuna.

* * *

"Sawada-san!" Andou-sensei called from the front of the classroom, making the young girl look up from her hands where they had been bussy taking the longest time removing the safety pins from the cloth. "If you please." the woman, motioning with her hand towards the empty easel standing in front of the black board.

Legs shaking, Tsuna slowly moved up to the front of the classroom, trying to ignore the whispers of the surrounding students as she went.

" _Who do you think she painted?"_

" _Probably her mother, she doesn't have any friends."_

" _I don't know... she's been getting more popular lately..."_

" _Are you joking?"_

Hands trembling, Tsuna put the painting on the easel, and with a graceful flick of her wrists, she removed the cloth covering the person it portrayed.

The second the canvas was revealed, the girls of the class burst out in the loudest squeal ever, loud enough that it could have probably been heard over the entire building. It almost burst the eardrums of the poor male students, Tsuna, and Andou-sensei.

Right there was the most realistic likeness of Gokudera that could have ever been caught on paint. One hand resting on his leg and striking olive eyes pinned on the painter.

The orange light streaming in through the windows set the glow in those two expressive orbs on his face aflame, his pale skin shining with health and his silver hair aglow. He also had the sort of calm expression that no one other than Tsuna had had the pleasure of witnessing. The kind of expression that really pulled out his aristocratic features through the piercings, studded bracelets, and chain necklaces.

The girls swooned, the boys growled, and Andou-sensei stared at the painting in disbelief.

She turned towards Tsuna as if in a trance.

"This is your best friend?" she asked, really putting the empathis on 'this'.

Tsuna awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

"Well... he is my first friend out of the two I've got." she brushed her hair behind her ear. "We haven't known each other for that long..." she didn't need to say any more.

Nodding, Andou-sensei looked away from Tsuna, pointedly focusing on the painting so that the girl hopefully wouldn't notice the pity in her eyes.

It didn't work.

"Great work with the lighting." Andou-sensei spoke up, moving her hand over the painting in the direction the light flowed over the subjest. "Wonderful attention to where the shadows fall in relationship with the sunlight, and amazing blend between the lighter and darker colors." the teacher had said those exact words for almost every one of Tsuna's works since the start of the term. Where everyone else got critisisms for how to better their works, Tsuna always got nothing but praise. The only class where she didn't need to be better.

"Thank you." Tsuna replied with a bow before she plucked the painting down from the easel and retreated back to her seat, not even bothering to listen for the rest of the class.

* * *

Walking out of the building, Tsuna was surprised that she _wasn't_ surprised to see Gokudera leaning against his bike, waiting for her.

Shaking her head, she jogged up to him.

"You don't have to wait for me every afternoon you know." she spoke up, causing Gokudera to snap his head in her direction fast enough for her to briefly worry that he was going to snap his neck from the force of the turn.

A gentle smile spread across his face as he tossed her helmet to her.

"I don't need to." he said, agreeing. "But I want to."

Tsuna couldn't keep herself from rolling her eyes, a smile spread out over her lips as she closed the distance between her and her friend.

"You don't have the painting with you." Gokudera noted, seeing her bare back.

"I keep all assignments at school until the end of the year." Tsuna answered, pulling the helmet over her head, carefully snapping the strap in place. "It helps the teacher evaluate your work at the end of the year."

Nodding, Gokudera put his own helmet on before throwing a leg over his bike, kick starting the engine.

Tsuna was just about to join him, when a prickling at the back of her neck stopped her.

Slowly, she turned towards the baseball fields.

There stood Yamamoto, one hand on the fence surrounding the sanded ground on which the baseball club was currently practicing. Even from where she were standing, she could see how the fingers of the hand connected to his good arm clenching around the links of the fence.

She could see a look of longing on his face for a split second before he turned his head in her direction, and immediately, the expression was exchanged for a look she couldn't quite place.

She did know one thing however.

She didn't like it.

"Juudaime!" Gokudera's voice sounded over the roar of the engine.

Snapping her gace away from the wounded athlete, Tsuna climbed on behind Gokudera and the two of them sped off the school grounds, a pair of hazel eyes following them as they went.

* * *

 **A/N: I know that was a little short, and I don't really know wheather the other chapters will become shorter as well as the outline is generally just a list of "this happens" and "this general thing was said by this person", so yeah...**

 **Anyway, please tell me what you think. Not just the regular "Nice chapter, please update soon". That doesn't tell me anything about weather you actually like what I'm writing or not, you could just be polite. The rviews I really want to read are the long, detailed ones. I accept any reviews you got, but I want to know your true opinions, what you like, what you don't like, ideas for future potential plotlines and so on. I want it!**

 **Anyways, I love you beautiful humans, and I will be back with another chapter whenever I can!**

 **Love.**

 **Me!**


	14. Target 14

**A/N: And so, another chapter has been finished!**

 **Who knew outlining the story would make writing it all the more flowing? I don't think I have ever found it this easy to keep track of what I'm writing as well as keeping my interest pinned to the subject.**

 **Another thing keeping me pinned is actually the reviews I have been getting. The longer ones, the ones that actually tell me what they think, experience, and feel when reading my story, and the knowledge that some people actually take the time to let me know these things really brighten my day, as well as make me excited to keep writing.**

 **I'm not lying, just this Thursday night I found myself not wanting to write for shit, completely prepared to move onto another project of writing or another one of my uploaded stories, but then, Friday morning, I found a few really long reviews, and they sent me into a storm of absolute giddiness. I don't think I have ever been as itching to write on one of my upploaded stories as I were at that one moment.**

 **It is you beautiful humans that are keeping both my interest and this story alive.**

 **Anyway, as my thanks for all the beautiful words and appretiation I have received these past few days, here is the next chapted of the story.**

 **Things actually happen in this!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Chapter 14:**

 **The biggest egghead of them all**

The days passed by at a snails pace in Tsuna's opinion.

It was as though an air of darkness hung over the whole town, asside from the thick dark gray clouds that have covered the sky ever since Monday afternoon. The lack of sunlight slowed everyone down, making the days seemingly twize as long as they should.

Tsuna found herself glancing out the store window more than once as she wandered through the isles of the convenience store, a basket hanging from the fold of her arm.

Realizing what she was doing, she shook her head, turning her attention back towards the canned foods lined up in front of her.

Where was the ravioli?

She hadn't been feeling quite right since Monday morning, a gnawing feeling in her stomach telling her to stay on guard for anything that might happen at any moment.

It unerved her more than she were willing to admit.

"Juudaime?" a familiar voice cut through the low buzzing of the afternoon shoppers surrounding her, a voice that could only belong to one person, and a word that only ever came out of the one persons mouth.

Before she could fully register the voice, a smile spread over her face, melting the uneasy feeling that had previously kept her insides frozen.

She turned around, and sure enough, there he stood, dressed in tattered jeans, a black t-shirt and a blood red hoodie with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He had his own shopping basket hanging from his one hand.

"Gokudera-kun." Tsuna greeted, even though the last time she had seen him hadn't been more than three hours ago.

"What are you doing here?" Gokudera asked, stepping up to her.

Frowinging lightly, Tsuna lifted her basket into view of the delinquents olive orbs, catching his attention and gaining her a light nod in understanding.

It was strange how the two of them had somehow developed a silent language over the few weeks they had been aquainted. Now, most of the time, they didn't even need to open their mouths to convey messages, and sometimes they realized how creepy they were being. It always served as a topic that would send them into a laughing fit.

"You need any help?" Gokudera asked, stepping up to her.

"Only if you know where I can find the ravioli." Tsuna answered, smiling gently as she turned back to the shelves, her fingers running over the cans as she scanned the lables, frowning as she didn't seem to manage to find what she were looking for.

"Juudaime." Gokudera spoke up again, successfully catching Tsuna's attention as she turned back towards him.

She found him pointing down towards a shelf closer to the floor than the one she were currently looking through, and sure enough, about two meters in front of her stood the medium sized cans in the colors of red orange and yellow with the delishious pasta covered meet squared lining the paper surrounding the metal.

She sent a greatful smile in Gokudera's direction.

Having five cans in the basket, Tsuna swiftly moved on down the list her mother had given her as she had practically shoved her out the front door, just like she always did whenever she needed groceries for dinner.

Tsuna was aware the whole time that Gokudera were right there, always close by as he himself gathered the things he needed. She was greatful for the silence, and the tranquil atmosphere that were so rare when around the delinquent. Usually, whenever they spend time in public, he would glare at anyone to turned their noses up at the birds nest that were Tsuna's hair, his irritation rolling off of him in powerful waves that unnerved her greatly.

She didn't hold his atitude against him, seeing as she knew just as much about his past as he knew about her. She knew he had grown up with an aristocratic background, and he knew she had been bullied since she were five. There weren't much more than that.

There weren't any need for any more.

About ten minutes later, Tsuna made her way to the check-out point, closely followed by Gokudera whom she knew had finished gathering his own items about seven minutes before, but he had remained in the store until she had done the same. She could tell what he wanted to do without even looking his way.

She knew there would be no use arguing about it.

Paid and packed, Tsuna stood by the check-out holding the large paper bag in her arms as Gokudera baged his own items. He smiled at her once he held his own, smaller bag in his hand, walking right up to her.

"I'll follow you home." he said, no, stated, though his expression showed nothing but gentle protectiveness.

"I figured." Tsuna responded, smiling slightly back at him.

* * *

They had begun a casual conversation about Gokudera's living situation by the time they exited the store, walking out into the windy afternoon air

They had been so absorbed in their conversation that neither of them noticed the small figure bolting towards them at a milion miles an hour. Curly black hair bouncing round a pale face and a dirt covered adults cow-print dress shirt billowing around the childs tiny frame.

Bare feet pounded almost soundlessly over the damp pavement as the child sprinted. It threw glances behind him every now and then, but never once did he slow down.

It was during one of these moments that it happened.

Tsuna and Gokudera were focused on ther conversation, the kid turned it's head back, and before either of them knew it, the kid crashed right into the unextecting, feather weight Tsuna.

The force of the colision sent Tsuna stumbling backwards, a couple of apples falling from her bag as her legs gave under her, causing her to land rather painfully, clutching at her bag as though her life depended on her.

It had happened so suddenly, so fast, it had knocked the breath out of her lungs.

She immediately became locked inside the sound of her furiously pounding heart.

The kid had taken a tumble as well, rolling over the pavement, scraping up his hands, elbows and knees, not to mention a small part of his right cheek, and the top of his bare feet. He sat up with great difficulty through the burning pain on his skin and looked around, seeing Tsuna sitting frozen on the ground, and then, Gokuder.

Of course he recognized the silverette, and the silverette recognized the kid as well.

"You..." he growled angrily, his one hand sliding into his back pocket, looking as though he were about to commit murder.

The boy shrunk back under the intense stare, his own surprisingly bright green eyes wedge open in horror as he painstakingly moved backwards, trying to get away from the man.

Thankfully, the help came in the form of a frightened whimper.

"Gokudera-kun..."

Two pairs of eyes turned towards Tsuna, though she barely noticed it. The only thing she could focus on were the violent pounding in her chest.

It was truly scary.

She could actually feel the size of her heart jerking inside of her, sending one violent burst after the other through her body, pounding away at her ribcage as though it wanted out.

She did not want it out.

Seeing her in such a frightened state, Gokudera immediately rushed towards her, crouching down in front of her and gently grabbing her by the arms, calmly stroking her skin with his thumbs.

He flinched slightly.

Her skin was scolding.

Taking advantage of the silvertte's moment of distraction, the kid quickly rose from the ground. However, not before he grabbed one of the fallen apples from the ground, and bolted from the scene as fast as his scraped feet could carry him, winching with every step he took, but he absolutely refused to slow down.

Noticing that the kid had run off, Gokudera prepared to run after.

"HEY!" He screamed, his grip on Tsuna's arms loosening, but he never got the chance to move.

Tsuna's dainty little hand lashed out with the speed of a whip, her fingers clenching around the blood red fabric surrounding Gokudera's bicep, forcing him into a stop.

She hadn't looked up once, her chest heaving with every paniked breath she took.

It had never been as bad as this.

It would probably have been painful had her fear not locked her in a state of numbness. She was surprised her fire hadn't burst out from her skin at this state, but she suspected that she had gotten enough controll over her flames that it wouldn't release without her control anymore.

That, at least, was some comfort.

Gokudera's hands ran up and down her arms, slowly, in time with the normal rhythm of a humans breath, and she forced herself to time her own breathing to his movements.

In... out...

In... out...

In... out...

She didn't know how long they had been sitting there, but by the time her attention widened, she noticed that they had gathered a small crowd.

A little while later, she found she no longer had to force her breathing into the rhytm, and she no longer felt the vicious pounding of her heart. It was still quick, but it wasn't frightening anymore, and that served to calm her down even further.

Fingers loosening around Gokudera's hoodie, Tsuna took one final breath breath before she allowed herself to straighten, her arm loosening on the death grip around the paper bag.

Seeing this, Gokudera actually reached out a hand, pressing it to the side of her neck as he looked her right in the eye.

It was the most affectionate action he had ever taken, but Tsuna didn't dwell on it. This whole situation was anything but romantic. Sure, any other girl would have probably started blushing furiously and fainted if someone like Gokudera did something like this to them. But Tsuna wasn't any other girl, and she was also aware of the kind of person Gokudera was.

"You okay?" Gokudera's gravely voice registered into her brain, making her smile despite the situation she just escaped.

She nodded for an answer.

Releasing a revealed breath, Gokudera returned the previously scattered apples to her bag before he gently picked her up from the ground. The gathered crowd had scattered after Tsuna's nod, thankfully leaving the two alone.

* * *

A few minutes later, the two of them stood in front of Tsuna's house.

She was just about to enter the building when a thought suddenly struck her.

Turning back towards her friend, her arms still tightly wrapped around the paper bag, she looked him right in the eyes with her own smiling ones.

"You wanna stay for dinner?"

The question had obviously taken Gokudera by surprise, but he righted himself in a matter of seconds.

For a brief moment, he looked conflicted, but after seeing the earnest expression on Tsuna's face, he allowed his worries to melt away.

"If Juudaime would have me."

And with that said, the two entered the house, closing the door behind them.

* * *

The last day of school before summer vacation finally arrived, the last Friday they would have to endure the plain white walls of the building, and the sky had never been darker.

One after one, the students arrived at the building, the majority of which either carrying umbrellas directly by the hand or having one at the very top of the bag, everyone expecting it to suddenly rain down on them at any minute.

In their classroom, Yamamoto watched the students enter through the gates, some in pairs chatting merrily at the simple fact that it was the last day before several weeks of well-earned freedome, but he just couldn't bring himself to join them in their excitement. To him, there were very little to find enjoyable with the situation, and it was eating away at him with every day that passed by.

Suddenly, the sound of a familiar engine rang through the air.

Yamamoto turned his attention back towards the gates just in time to see the familiar vehicle speed onto the school grounds, gradually slowing down by the time they reached the bikes standing parked and locked in place.

He watched as the two pasengers smoothly got off the vehicle, removing their helmets as they did and then proceeded to walk up to the school building.

The messy golden hair and smooth silver hair stood like beacons for anyone who wished to find them, and by the looks following them as they walked, it really worked. Even though the two in question didn't seem to pay the looks any attention, they couldn't help but to attract it.

Yamamoto honestly didn't understand it.

Sawada Tsunako had gone from the schools most hated and bullied person to the schools most surprising and gossip centered student. She had gone from the bottom of the food chain, constantly working as the pray of the buildings more insecure beings to the a person people had started to pay more attention to, a person they now wanted to try and figure out, to get to know better, a person that had become the most difficult to successfully pin to a social class.

She had become different in the last few weeks, more confident, more open. She no longer avoided eye-contact as much when people adressed her.

In some aspects, that particular accomplishment could be due to the delinquent now following her arround like alost puppy.

That too greatly confused Yamamoto.

Sawada and Gokudera were very different in personality, one being hot-headed and the other seemingly not having the physical capability of getting angry, and yet, the deliquent seemed to believe that Sawada were the center of his universe.

There were a few circles or more diabolic feemales in school that had on multiple occasions tried to start a rumour that Sawada had somehow managed to worm her way under Gokudera's sheets and that was the reason why he suddenly started treating her like a goddess whenever they met. Though these rumours would hint that Sawada was better than the regular girl when it came to those kind of activities.

Peronally, Yamamoto were more than sure that these speculations were more than bullshit.

Sawada had always been a very socially-awkward girl, so the thought of her seducing anyone was strange enough for the very image to be impossible to conjure up. And Yamamoto had encountered people like Gokudera before, just sleeping with a girl didn't make them completely faithful to them, in fact, they usually didn't give a damn about who they had slept with in the past no matter how good they had been.

Whatever had bonded Sawada and Gokudera were something far stronger and more than likely more unbelievable than the two of them sleeping together.

Sawada's whole image had changed in a matter of weeks. If that could happen to her, it could more than likely happen to anyone.

He glanced down to his useless arm, frowning at the cast covering it.

Between him and Sawada, he couldn't help but to feel as though he had been the one to pick the short stick in development.

However, no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't hate Sawada.

She was too kind, to overall sweet to everyone around her that holding some kind of grudge against her was down-right impossible. And the fact that she had been the one to get him to the hosbital before any more damage could be done to his arm, thus causing there to be permanent damage done to the muscle, leaving him unable to ever pick up a sport ever again, also helped her from disappearing off the list of people he legitemately liked.

He really did like her, he found her to be an amazingly strong person.

But he couldn't help but to be envious of her development as well.

A sigh escaped his lips.

His fingers clenched against the desk he saw sitting at.

His mind was made up.

* * *

Tsuna didn't know why, but she had been filled with an overwhealming sense of dread from the very moment she had stepped in through the front doors of the school. The sensation had been so sudden, so heavy, that Tsuna's knees had actually buckled under her the second she had put one foot inside the building.

She probably would have fallen to the ground had Gokudera not caught her.

He had tried to ask her what had happened, but Tsuna couldn't for the life of her understand the situation either. It was too mind boggling.

Thankfully, everything from the point they entered the classroom had been relatively normal despite the dread hanging in the air. Of course, no one else seemed to notice the overwhelming emotion but Tsuna had decided not to worry about it.

Not yet anyway.

By the time Lunch came round, the dread was thicker than ever, thick enough that Tsuna honest to god found it difficult to breathe through the sensation.

It anything was going to happen, now would be the time.

"Tsuna-chan!" a bright cherry voice rang through the air, successfully snapping the golden brown haired girl out of her thoughts. Turning towards the sound of the voice, Tsuna was surprised to see Sasagawa Kyoko happily walking over to her, a bright smile on her face.

For some reason, Tsuna suddenly felt the need to crawl in under her desk and not come out until the end of Lunch.

It wasn't that she didn't like Kyoko, far from it. It was just that this wasn't the atmosphere, or mood in which Tsuna felt she could be open enough to be around someone like her at the moment.

Kyoko stopped in front of her, that bright smile still very much there.

How could someone smile in this atmosphere?

"You want to eat with me and Hana today?" she asked, voice chipper just like any other day, but Tsuna couldn't for the life of her gather up the same amount of possitive emotions.

Her arms folded around herself.

From the corner of her eye, she could see Gokudera leaning against his desk, staring at her and Kyoko with an unreadable expression on his face. He was waiting for something.

He was waiting for her decission.

She knew that he would go along with anything she decided to do, even the things that didn't involve him to begin with.

The thought made her feel bad.

Finally, she turned her attention back towards the smiling girl.

"I-" she never got the chance to give her reply.

The sliding doors shot open with a loud bang, and in rushed three very disheveled and horrified looking classmates, their breaths heavy and eyes wild as they looked around the room.

The students fell absolutely silent.

It took some time before one of them caught his breath enough to scream.

"YAMAMOTO IS ABOUT TO JUMP OFF THE ROOF!"

The screams that immediately followed after the message reached Tsuna's ears as though they were coming to her through water, muffles, jumbled. It took several moments before the boy's panicked statement even registered, and at that point, she felt her insides heat up from the fire slowly pumping into her bloodstream.

She wasn't scared, she wasn't worried.

She was furious.

The class started rushing out of the room, tripping over themselves in their frantic rush, but there Tsuna stood, her expression a cold calm as she watched the specticle they were making of themselves.

With the majority of their classmates out the room, Tsuna started moving herself.

A hand latched onto her upper arm, forcing her to turn back.

Gokudera was looking at her with a pleading expression, begging her not to leave the room. His eyes widened slightly when he noticed the expression on her own face.

His fingers loosened around her arm, allowing her to yank the limb out of his and proceed to follow their running classmates down into the hallway.

Begrudgingly, Gokudera followed her.

* * *

They found Yamamoto standing on the other side of the railing, looking out over his panicked classmates with the pain he had previously hid from them blaitantly obvious not just for Tsuna, but for everyone as well.

Tsuna were honestly thinking about changing his name to "Egghead" at this point.

It suited him better than the name he had now!

Tsuna knew that she should be scared for him just like the rest of her classmates, but all she found was herself becoming more and more angry at the scene that played out in front of her eyes.

She could hear the students shouting for him not to go through with it, that he still had so much to live for, but she knew that their word's wouldn't reach him.

She hadn't mentally named him Egghead for nothing.

It were the words sounding from the man himself that finally did it for her.

"There's nothing left for me now."

Face a frightening calm, Tsuna pushed herself through the coud.

And she did indeed push herself through. As week and fragile looking as she were, her fellow students got the shocks of their lives when a dainty hand landed on their shoulders or arms before they were violently shoved to the side, almost falling to the concrete roof had it not been so crowded at the moment.

"You idiot!" she growled loudly as she came within Yamamoto's eyesight.

All Gokudera could do was silently follow her to ensure no one would stop her.

It wouldn't end well for them when she were in this state.

For a moment, Yamamoto was confused as to who this person were, then he recognized the messy golden brown hair, but even then... were her eyes glowing orange? It was hard to tell as the eyes were still very much hidden under her bangs.

"Are you seriously going to kill yourself over a broken arm?" she asked, her voice surprisingly high and deep as it washed over her classmates. "It'll heal." she crossed her arms over her chest, nodding towards the cast. "You can train your muscles back up again, there is no need for you to act this way."

The surrounding students broke out into screams of agreement, some even taking a step up behind Tsuna to show they were agreeing with what she were saying.

However, it appeared as though Tsuna's words only made the athlete angrier.

"How would you know!?" he screamed in her face, shocking everyone around as all they had ever seen on Yamamoto being his Happy-Go-Lucky attitude. Seeing him like this was a brutal eye opener to the lot of them. "You don't know how hard I worked, how many hours I spent training, how much I sweated to get where I were." he glanced down to the ground, his hand clenching around the railing tightly enough for his knuckles to whiten. "Bareball was everything to me... and it threw me away like I were nothing." he pinned Tsuna with the most hateful glare that anyone had ever seen on him. "How could someone who has never worked for anything in her life possibly understand what I'm going through?!" he screamed loud enough for his voice to crack.

Gokudera reacted as expected.

He jerked foreward, hands reaching into his back pockets as he screamed at the athlete in anger.

"Why you!"

Before Gokudera had the chance to do anything however, Tsuna did.

Right there, in front of everyone, Tsuna broke out into a beautiful and graceful dance routine, jumping, spinning, throwing her arms out in well practiced movements that sent everyone on the rooftop into a shocked dace. Even more conciddering her eyes were closed the entire time, completely confident in her own abilities.

Even more amazing were the fact that she didn't appear to have any trouble with her balance at all, if the one legged spins and landings were anything to go by.

Finally, after the most extravagant show of talent the students had seen in a long time, Tsuna came to a stop in her routine, finishing a final pirrouette abruptly, facing Yamamoto as she opened her eyes to look at him.

"I took ballet lessons for ten years trying to improve my lack of balance." she declared to the students, making most of them stare at her in even more bewilderment. "I practiced until my toenails cracked." Yamamoto met her eyes from the other side of the railing, eyes showing just how much her revelation shocked him.

Was it really that unbelievable that she would actually work for something?

The only one who didn't look shocked was Gokudera, whom had taken to standing with his arms crossed, eyes pinned on the injured athlete.

"I went through the exact same thing you did with your arm, only with my ankle." Yamamoto's eyes widened even further at this. "Someone got to me before I actually broke it through, that's how I recognized it." she sighed heavily, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. "Turns out, I was practicing too much without allowing my muscles the time to recover from the training, wearing them out." she put her hands on her hips, giving Yamamoto a chilling, accusing look from behind her bangs. "You should have kept listening to me."

Rightfully, Yamamoto looked away, shame clear on his face.

Tsuna knew that she had come a long way in trying to sway Yamamoto's mind, but she weren't quite there yet.

She knew the subject she would have to bring up, even though it would hurt her in some aspects as well.

She sighed heavily before she opened her mouth again.

"I have been bullied since I was five."

Yamamoto's head snapped in her direction, eyes wide. From behind Tsuna, Gokudera's tingers tightened around his arms. The crowd of students also seemed to be taken aback by this, turning towards one another in silent whispers.

"Wha-" Yamamoto started but Tsuna didn't want to hear it.

Not yet at least.

"At least, that's what my mother told me." this was a lie. Her mother didn't even know Tsuna were bullied to this extent, and this long. She only knew that Tsuna had been bullied when she were five and for a few years into primany school, but that were everything Tsuna needed to connect the timeline. "I was shoved down a flight of stairs my first week in middle school and lost three years worth of memory." the whispers became even more buzzing.

This has always been a sore subject for Tsuna.

Three years old her life, five to eight, complete wiped away from her mind, leaving nothing but an empty slate were her earliest memories should be.

She shook her head, ridding her head of the unpleasant thoughts.

"I have been through hell because of reasons I couldn't even control, things I couldn't fix no matter how hard I tried, and I HAVE tried." she gave Yamamoto a pointed look, forcing him to look away from her again. "But I NEVER even considdered taking my own life."

"But Sawada..." Yamamoto spoke up, looking at Tsuna with eyes of pure anquish. "You're stronger than me." a week, devestated smile curled the one corner of his mouth. "You proved that much when you survived that gunshot."

Immediately, Gokudera reacted.

"What?!" this was one piece of information that he hadn't heard about, and he turned his attention to Tsuna, his eyes demanding an answer.

She cave him a calm look.

"Not now Gokudera-kun." had everyone not known better, they would have thought she were ordering the delinquent, but that wouldn't be right, right?

Never the less, Gokudera stepped back.

Swallowing, Tsuna turned her attenion back to Yamamoto, her calm demeanor slipping.

"It's because I survived these eleven years of bullying that I became this "strong"." she said the last word as if she didn't quite believe it herself. "If you allow your arm to heal, you will probably find that it will become the strongest part of your body." she threw a pointed look towards the cast, taking a mental note of the fact that Yamamoto followed her gace.

Just a bit more...

"Believe it or not." Yamamoto looked up at her again. "My life became a million times better after that gunshot. It's one of the reasons why I'm not demanding Yakahashi's removal from the school." she was well aware that Takahashi had been suspended from school the whole time she had been in the coma, his punishment milder because he hadn't actually known that the gun was loaded, not to mention that he legitemately regretted what he had done, but he had still brought a fully functional to school so something had to be done about it.

It was just her luck that he returned just a few school days before she did.

She closed her eyes, clearing her head before she looked at the athlete again.

"I'm currently working on something else."

Heads rose from all around the rooftop.

"What is that?" Yamamoto asked, his voice lower than it were before.

"Turning my life around."

Yamamoto's eyes widened at her words.

"I barely had one to begin with, so I'm going to change that." her calm was slowly slipping away with the more Yamamoto seemed to start reethinking his decision. Her hand rose up against her will, brushing her hair behind her ear. Yamamoto caught onto this action immediately.

With the little calm she still mastered, Tsuna walked up to Yamamoto, standing right in front of him as she looked him in the eye.

"You're currently resenting me for picking myself up after the lowest point in my life," she could have sworn she saw the color drain out of the athlete's tanned skin. "all the while you're thinking about taking the cowards way out."

Yamamoto looked just about ready to argue, but Tsuna didn't allow him the time to speak.

This is good, almost there.

Just one more push.

"And what of your father?" hazel eyes widened drastically. "How do you think he will react when he hears about what you did?" absolute guilt washed over Yamamoto's features, enough that he could no longer look at her.

Her job was done.

"I have nothing left to say to you." and with that, she turned around, her arms crossed in front of her chest as she started off towards the thick crowd of student whom were all staring at her in obvious shocked disbelief.

She didn't get that far though.

"Sawada, wait!" Yamamoto called out, letting go of the railing to grab hold of the back of Tsuna's blouse, meaning to yank her back so that he could talk to her just a little bit more.

He felt as though he needed it.

What he hadn't expected however, was just how light she'd be.

She practically flew back towards him, over the railing at the strength of his pull, and before he knew it, the two of them were tumbling off the school rooftop to the sound of panicked screams of students, one scream in particular coming out louder than the others.

"JUUDAIME!"

* * *

 **A/N: Aaaand, I'm ending it there!**

 **I know, I'm evil, but good news is that we are finally going to the part of the story where things are actually starting to happen. We're about half-way through this part of the story and so, things are going to happen, more characters are going to be introduced, and then, the climax of the story.**

 **Oh... do I have things planned for that!**

 **Anyway, please tell me your honest opinions on this chapter, what you felt, your impressions, any ideas for later on in the story or parts that have already passed because I have already decided that I am going to rewrite this as some point, so this is like the first draft in what will later become a finished story. Don't worry, I won't delete this story, drafts are never supposed to be deleted or thrown away.**

 **Anyways, I will be back with a new chapter whenever I can.**

 **I'll see you again you beautiful humans. So long as you want me to.**

 **Love.**

 **Me!**


	15. Target 15

**A/N: Alright... I know I was evil with how I ended the last chapted, but trust me, I felt like it was the perfect way to end it seeing as I wanted there to be a break leading up to this particular scene that has actually been building up till this point.**

 **I am sure you have notices that I have deleated the first chapter, and the reason for that is that I realized it wasn't going anywhere. The first chapter went absolutely nowhere and I got this terrible feeling that a lot of people just read the first chapter, thinking they understood everything that was going to happen and just left without giving the second chapter a chance. It the first chapter can't lure in readers, it's not needed, and it's basically useless in terms of plot as well, so it was scrapped.**

 **I thank you all for your reviews, I go giddy with every one I get, and for keeping me motivated in this story.**

 **And so, if you please.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 15:**

 **And so the Rain was calmed**

Yamamoto had never been more scared in his life.

He didn't understand how things had taken this kind of turn.

Just a few minutes ago, he had been so set on taking this fall. Heck, the asphalt that he was now shooting down towards had look so incredibly soft when he had first climbed over the railing, and now it looked just as solid as it had ever been.

But now, all he could think about how his old man would react.

His old man... the same old man that had somehow managed to remain his strong cheerful self even after his wife, Yamamoto's mom, died in a car accident six years ago.

And now, because of his own stupidity, he was going to loose his son too.

Tears gathered in Yamamoto's eyes before he could stop them.

* * *

Tsuna felt her heart pouding in her chest, the same strength, if not stronger, as a few days ago when something had rammed into her outside the convenience store.

She still had no idea just what had run into her back then.

Anyways... she couldn't dwell on the past, neither could she dwell on the sensation of her heart violently pounding in her chest, she needed to do something!

Focusing, trying to sort through the multiple sensations she was currently experiencing, but she did find the one thing that she could use.

Fire was currently rushing through her bloodstream at a critical level. It would probably burst from her pores at any given moment because of the risk her life was currently in.

Now if she could just transfer the spot where the flames will errupt...

With only a few more meters until they would crash into asphalt, Tsuna frantically manouvered her and Yamamoto around, holding the athlete to her chest, both of his arms tightly pressed to her stomach as she pressed his head down against her.

She knew that it probably wouldn't work, but she wanted to know that she had at the very least tried to make it so he wouldn't find out.

Well... it was now or never...

She had never done it before, but there must have been something in the adrenaline that made it possible for her to quickly shove the flames gathered in her blood not towards her hands where she could feel they had started to gather, but to her back.

It was a strange sensation, feeling the flames gather at such a large area, and then, when she felt the pressure beginning to heat up her insides, she released it.

The force of the release was even stronger than she had expected it to be. The moment she let go, she found herself jerked upwards, like a rocketship would have jerked upwards from a short burst, not that she would ever think of herself as a rocketship even if she did have a passenger.

The amount of flames she released at that one minutes seemed to be all she had stored up, and the two started falling again, but not as far as one would have believed.

They landed harshly onto scorched, lightly steaming asphalt, the two would probably come out of it with impressive bruises from the fall, but thankfully, neither of them actually died.

That was where Tsuna's active mind crumbled.

* * *

Yamamoto was in a state of shocked confusion.

Cheeks damp from his tears, he turned his wide eyes towards the panting golden-haired girl lying on her pack. The ground under her was scorched, and from what little he would see, it was as though the back of her shirt had been completely singed off, leaving soot soot covered edged lining the sides of her behind.

What the hell had just happened?!

They had been tumbling to their deaths! But now it just looks as though they had taken a tumble! And those scorch marks...

He didn't get to go any further in his pondering however.

Suddenly, Sawada gave off a violent jerk in her chest area, the upper part of her torso giving a violent jolt upwards, and again, and again, until she resembled a fish that had just been taken out of water with how violent her spasms were.

Not only that, but her eyes clenched together in obvious pain, sounds resembling those of a dying child escaping her lips as she jerked.

Her hands were flailing at her sides. It looked as though they were trying to grab hold of something but her jerking upper torso was always putting a stop to her arms wandering.

Just what was going on?!

"Sawada?!" he found himself calling out before he could stop himself.

Worried, Yamamoto lashed out, grabbing hold of one of her flailing hands.

Carefully, he moved the tips of his fingers towards the pulse point, and what he felt caused his own blood to freeze up in his veins.

Her pulse was heratic, beating at a pace that quite frankly shouldn't exist, and he had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't have to actucally touch the pulse point. If he looked at her wrist, he should be able to see the vein there with how hard the blood was shoved through her body. He quickly moved his fingers from where they were, not wanting to rist clogging up one of the vein in fear of them bursting at the forse of the pulse.

He didn't let go of her hand though.

He stared down at her in absolute frantic worry.

What should he do?

What _could_ he do?

He was right back there, the day she got shot, pressing down on the hole in her stomach in a desperate attempt to give her just a few more seconds in life.

The same panic flooded his system, but this time, he didn't even have a clue as to what he should do.

At that moment, it was as if Sawada answered the question for him.

Her hand turned around in his, suddenly grasping his wrist with surpsising strength considdering the situation she had somehow managed to put herself in, and that was when he felt it.

A strange, prickly warmth spread from where his skin came in contact with hers, kind of like the feeling you get when your limb is starting to wake up after falling asleep, only with heat applied to it. But that wasn't all.

All of the sudden, he had the strange feeling as though something was sucking at his skin, like a low-suction vaccume wrapped around his wrist.

He wouldn't lie.

It tickled.

A lot.

But this most certainly wasn't a humorous situation.

That was when it happened.

Looking down at the hand that was giving him these strange sensations, he notices something even stranger, not to mention even frightening considdering the situation.

A bright luminescent blue light shone from where their skin connected, absorbing into Sawada's tiny hand and proceeding to seep into her veins.

Yamamoto watched in fascinated fear as the light flooded down the petite girl's arm, flowing along her bloodsteam down to her still conculsing torso. He watched as the light sunk down where he knew the heart and immediately, she stopped moving entierly.

"Sawada?" he asked, his worried voice carrying out over the empty schoolyard.

This was strange in itself considdering it was lunch break, but he didn't have time to worry about that.

"Sawada?!" Yamamoto called out again, his healthy arm attacking to her shoulder to give her a shake, hoping against anything that he hadn't just lost the girl he had once saved.

His thumb brushed against the vein in her neck, and he stopped moving all together.

A breath of relief escaped his lips at the calm, controlled pulse registered into his brain.

She was alright, and when he moved his cheek to her nose, he was pleased to find that she was taking slow, deep breaths, consistent to the breathing of someone in deep sleep.

He probably shouldn't have allowed her to fall asleep as he had no idea what had happened to her in the first place, but he couldn't help but to think that she deserved a few hours of sleep after what she had just gone through.

He would save the one thousand and one questions floating in his head for a time when she actually had the energy to answer them.

"JUUDAIME!" the silverette's voice rang through the air, causing Yamamoto to look up from where he had been leaning over the sleeping girl. The young man sprinted out from around the corner at a surprisingly fast pace, practically flying over the concrete.

The silverette's eyes narrowed when he saw the scorched asphalt under them, and it appeared as though he too noticed the state of Sawada's shirt for he quickly stripped himself of his own as he ran. He was by their side within seconds.

"What the fuck happened?" Gokudera demanded, glaring daggers at the injured athlete.

"I have no idea." came Yamamoto's careful answer.

Quickly, Gokudera lifted Sawada into a sitting position, revealing that the entire backside of her clothing had been burned off, including her bra clasp.

This made the cheeks of the two boys redden with embarrasment, but they didn't allow themselves to think about her state, not when she wasn't even awake to tell them what she thought of their obvious ogling.

With quick arms, Gokudera managed to drape his own shirt over Sawada's shoulders, thread her limp arms through the sleeves before gathering her up into his arms, settling her sideways over his lap, her head resting on his shoulder. The scene was surprisingly non romantic in Yamamoto's eyes, but that could just be because of everything he had just seen.

Gokudera looked down on Sawada's face, bringing up his hand to inspect her pulse very much like Yamamoto had done previously.

Letting out his own sigh of relief, Gokudera pieced Yamamoto with his most heated glare yet.

"You're damn lucky she wasn't terribly injured Baseball-freak." he immediately turned his attention back to Sawada's sleeping face.

Yamamoto was thrown off for a moment.

Baseball-freak?

He didn't get the chance to ask any other questions as the sound of running footsteps reached their ears, and seconds later, the scene was flooded with the panting students that had once been swarming the school rooftop, demanding that Yamamoto wouldn't jump.

Gokudera growled up at them.

"Took you people long enough."

One of the braver boys glared right back at him.

"You're the only one stupid enough to run inside the school building Gokudera-san."

Gokudera just shrugged, turning his attention back to Sawada, brushing her hair behind her ear so that they could see her for how she usually presented herself.

The students looked over the two teens that had fallen off the roof, pleasantly surprised and a little shocked to see that they barely had any injuries on them.

"How...?" one female student spoke up, but she didn't get to finish.

"Sawada took the blund of the fall." Yamamoto explained, and it was true, but she had done a lot more than just playing his cushion.

"Let's get you to the nurse." a male student said, motioning towards his friend as they walked around behind Yamamoto, grabbing him by the arms to help him off the scorched ground.

It was funny how no one had commented about that.

On the other side of the scorch mark, Gokudera rose from the ground, carefully adjusting Sawada's weight in his arms before he turned around, most likely to take her to the nurse.

No one had noticed the man standing there.

"I'll take care of Sawada-san, if you please." a deep voice spoke up, causing everyone but Gokudera to snap to attention turning towards it.

He was a tall lanky man, but Yamamoto got the feeling that the man was a lot stronger than he looked, he was dressed in a sleek black suit with a black tie and a black fedora perched on his head, his features were sharp, black ruffled hair stuck from the back of his head and his sideburns curled somewhat comically, but it only seemed to add to the man's excotic outlook.

He looked at the students with the most lifeless black eyes Yamamoto had ever seen, it unerved him to the point of getting the strangest desire to keep Sawada as far away from the man as possible.

But, it appeared that Gokudera had other ideas.

Calm as ever, Gokudera walked straight up to the mystery man, careful not to cause too much discomfort for the girl in his arms.

Gently, Gokudera handed Sawada over to the man, whom accepted her with equal cation as Gokudera had, lightly shifting her into the most comfortable position before he turned back towards the students watching him suspiciously.

"I am Sawada-san's home tutor." he explained, as if that was supposed to clear everything up, and apparently, to most of the students, it did. Yamamoto found himself surprised that, for once, he was not one among the gullible crowd. "I'll provide her with the best treatment to help her recover at the quickest pace."

He turned his attention back on Gokudera, choosing to ignore Yamamoto's suspricious glances.

"Gokudera." said silverette almost stood at attention at the mention of his name. "Bring Yamamoto-san over to Tsuna's house after school." judging by the furrowing of eyebrows, Gokudera didn't like that idea at all. "Bring her summer homework and bag whilst your at it."

This on the other hand, seemed to sit better.

"Anything for Juudaime." Gokudera replied with a short bow, and the man left, taking Sawada with him.

With the man gone, the students apparently found it good enough to start moving, dragging Yamamoto with them in the direction of the nurses office.

Behind them, Gokudera stalked after, hand in his pocket and a growling expression on his face.

* * *

A fer minutes later, Yamamoto lay on a bed in the infirmary, patches plastered over his skin where he had been unfortunate enough to scrape it, he was mostly still there because he already had a broken arm and the release of the adrenaline that had previously rushed through his system left him more exhausted than he cared to admit.

The other students had left for class once they knew Yamamoto were safe with no permanent damage, but there was one certain person that remained.

Gokudera stood leaning against the wall next to the door, his arms folded in front of his chest as he glared daggers at the injured athlete.

Yamamoto pretended not to see this.

His mind was still realing with what happened moments ago. He could still feel the heat that scorched the asphalt, the violent jerk just before they hit the ground.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore.

"What happened back there?" he voiced, looking up at the scowling delinquent as he lifted himself off the matress, bracing himself against the headboard.

If possible, Gokudera's eyes narrowed even further.

"I don't know." he looked away, still projecting that air of absolute irritation. "But we'll probably find out later." he untangled his arms, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he snapped his head back in Yamamoto's direction, glaring at him even more murderously than he did before.

That, was the last drop for the athlete.

"Okay man, what is your problem?"

If possible, it looked as though Gokudera became even more aggrivated.

"Did you really just ask that?!" the silverette exclaimed once he finally reached the peek of his tolerability. He growled loudly before looking away from the athlete, sighing in exhasperation. "I don't see why Juudaime bothers..." the words had been so quiet that Yamamoto had been forced to strain his ears in order to catch them.

"Wha-?" he delinquent cut him off before he could finish.

The young man stormed up to him, grabbing hold of the front of his shirt to yank him up towards his face.

Yamamoto was surprised at his strength.

"Juudaime was kind enough to worry about someone like you, and look what you did!" his words couldn't have been louder than a whisper, but Yamamoto heard them as though Gokudera were screaming them into his ear. "You nearly got her killed!" he brutally shoved Yamamoto back onto the matress making him bounce against the sheets.

Still glaring, Gokudera straightened his posture, violently turning around towards the door and began to walk away.

"Look man, I'm sorry!" Yamamoto called out after him, not liking the feeling of being hated to the extect Gokudera was currently giving him.

The silverette stopped dead in his tracks.

Angrily, he spun back towards the athlete, a look of pure murder in his eyes.

"Sorry isn't good enough!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. "Juudaime may be kind enough to figure you for your blunders, but trust me on this." his eyes narrowed as he turned back towards the door. "I will not."

And then he was gone, leaving Yamamoto to his thoughts.

* * *

When Tsuna opened her eyes, she was surprised to find that she was looking up at her own ceiling, the sight being far too familiar for her not to know it by just one blurry visual.

By the time her vicion cleared, she noticed a dark figure from the corner of her eye.

Turning her head, she immediately met the cold obsidian eyes of her tutor, and he did not look happy with her.

"I told you not to exhite yourself." he growled, moving closer so that he was sitting on the side of the bed, staring down at her with those unreadable orbs. "Low look what happened."

Tsuna couldn't keep the from from forming on her eyebrows in annoyance.

"So you say I should have just let Yamamoto-san die?" she asked, her voice seeping the tinyest bit into that cold calm she had become rather known for.

"The fall itself could have been avoided." Reborn countered, not taking his eyes off of her.

Not caring that Reborn was most likely stringing her along, deliberately fishing for a reaction, Tsuna tried to push herself off of the matress, but the second her upper torso rose the tinyest inch from the sheets, a stabbing pain shot through her chest.

"Arg!" Tsuna exclaimed, falling right back among the sheets as she clutched at the fabric covering her the area of her hidden, aching heart.

"Careful." Reborn's voice seeped in through her pain, a weight landing on her shoulder. "You'll need to rest for a few days before you're fine."

She blinked a couple of times, clearing her sight as she looked up at the man.

"The pain... the pounding..." her eyebrows furrowed in absolute confusion, trying to think back on that moment with great concentration. "The spasming..." she glanced up at Reborn through her eyelashes. "What was that about?"

Reborn gave off a low sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

It was at this point that Tsuna realized that Reborn looked different. Healthy different. No longer as though he was on the brink of death.

Had he slept as well whilst she was out?

"That's my fault I'm afraid." Reborn admitted, turning his face back towards Tsuna, watching as her eyes widened a fraction. "It's a terrible side-effect from the technique I used to help you through your training a while back."

Now that Tsuna thought about it... she had suddenly found her flame core easier to get a grasp of after Reborn had put a hand on her back in the middle of meditation.

Just what had he done.

"I knew very well this was a possibility." Reborn kept talking, snapping Tsuna out of her thoughts. "But for some reason, I believed that nothing too exhiting would happen for the three week time period after which you would be safe again." he looked her right in the eye. "I'm sorry."

This in itself was unbelievable.

Tsuna had honestly thought that any form of apology didn't exist in Reborn's vocabulary, and yet, here he was, apologizing for almost making her heart pound out of her chest.

Not a pleasant feeling that.

"What was the technique?" she asked, rubbing at her still-aching chest.

Immediately, she noticed his shoulderst straighten into what she liked to call "tutor-mode".

"We both know you ar very well aware of the existance of flames." she nodded her head in agreement, not really sure where this was going. "But what I haven't told you, is that everyone carries a small amount of these flames inside of their bodies, they just haven't been awakened yet." Tsuna's eyes widened a bit at this. "Now, no one will ever be able to control their flames at the same level as a Cour DiLeone, but some people are actually capable of making their flames materialize through different types of metals and stones." Reborn looked at Tsuna, pleased to see her listening intently to him, clinging on to his every word. "Now..." he reached into his pocket. "Your flames are bright orange, right?" she nodded in agreement. "There are six other colors in existance." her eyes widened even further as Reborn withdrew his hand from his pocket, clutching something in his hand. "Each colored flame has abilities making them unique, the flames coloring in tune with it's owners personality." he opened his palm, and Tsuna was shocked to see a metal charm bracelet, with only one charm. It was like a pebble in shape and a bright glittering yellow. She looked up at Reborn questioningly.

Smirking down at her, Reborn turned his eyes towards the charm and immediately it caught fire, burning in a bright yellow flame resembling the fire spewing out of a welder with a hoop of glitter thrown all over it, making it sparkle something terribly.

The flame was so pretty, and when looking up at Reborn, she couldn't help but to find the contrast a bit funny.

"This is the color of my flame." Reborn declared, closing his fingers around the charm just as the flame flickered away into nothingness. "It has the ability of acceleration. Meaning I accelerated your learning ability by forcefully pushing a bit of these flames into your skin." he pocketed the charm again looking away from her. "But the acceleration aspect is very unpredictable most of the time, so the technique is very risky."

Tsuna's arms shook at her sides, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Then..." She frantically grasped for the words in her head. "If that's the case... how did I survive?" her face showed the clear fear of the situation.

Reborn patted her lightly on the shoulder.

"We'll find out soon."

* * *

Gokudera stopped his bike outside the Sawada residence, frowning as he looked behind him at his much hates passenger.

"Get off." he growled, ripping his helmet off of his head.

Yamamoto did as he was told, getting off the vehicle with shaking legs from the fear he had managed to contain during the whole ride from school.

How Sawada could bare riding to school with Gokudera every day was completely beyond him. With how fast the silverette sped down the streets, took every turn as a chalenge of how far the bike can become paralel with the ground sideways and still straighten once the road did, it was a wonder the petite girl was still alive.

Yamamoto hadn't even been allowed to wear a helmet as the only spare one Gokudera had was "Strictly reserved for Juudaime". He would probably never understand why he insisted on calling her that.

With both of them off, Gokudera killed the engile, retrieving Sawada's bag from where he had hung it on the right handle, he turned towards the house and walked straight up to it as though it was the most normal thing in the world.

All Yamamoto could do was follow right after.

Standing on the porch, Gokudera swiftly knocked on the door, and before too long, a woman in what appeared to be her late thirties opened up, her chocolat brown hair falling over her shoulders as she looked at her visitors.

Yamamoto could immediately see the similarities. She and Sawada had the exact same eyes, only Sawada's being a few shades lighter, they shared the same round-ish face and button nose, but that was where the similarities ended. Even then, there was no doubt in his wind who this woman was in relation to Sawada.

Brown eyes fell on Gokudera, and the woman burst into a wide, energetic smile.

"Oh my, Gokudera-kun!" she exclaimed, putting a hand to her cheek.

Yamamoto glanced at Gokudera from the corner of his eye.

They had met before?

In response to the woman's enthusiasm, Gokudera smiled back, holding up his hand to show off the bag tightly clutched in it.

"I have brought Juudaime's bag, Okaa-sama." he stated, his voice surprisingly soft in comparison to the harch tones he had been using on Yamamoto ever since lunch time.

This just made the woman smile even more.

"Oh, you're such a sweet young man." then, her eyes snapped towards Yamamoto. She glanced between the two of them for a moment before she opened her mouth again. "And there's another one with you." she smiled at Yamamoto as well. "You here to visit Tsuna-chan too?"

"Er... yes." Yamamoto answered, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to behave around this woman, he didn't think he had ever met someone with as bubbly a personality. "Ano..." he suddenly caught himself, bowing lightly. "I'm, Yamamoto Takeshi."

Her response was not one he had expected.

"Oh, I remember you!" she giggled.

"You do?"

The woman nodded happily.

"You followed Tsuna-chan home once a few weeks ago." she looked between the two of them, her smile whistful. "How nice that my daughter has managed to make friends with such nice young men." she put her hand to her cheek, her face turning a bit disapointed. "Though I hope she's getting some female friends as well or people will talk."

"I asure you, Sawada-san." Yamamoto quickly stepped in, turning the woman's attention towards him. "I've seen your daughter spend time with two of our female classmates on occasion, so you don't have to worry."

He could practically feel the angered glare thrown at him from where Gokudere was standing.

Smiling, the woman brought her hand to her chest.

"That's great to hear." then she suddenly seemed to realize something. "Oh! How rude of me!" she stepped asside in the doorway, leaving just enough room for the two of them to step through. "Come inside, come inside." she goaded, waving for the two of them to enter.

Slowly, they did as she asked.

The hallways was bigger than one would think, with wooden floors and traditionally white-painted walls, a staircase lined the right wall and four doors could be seen from where they were standing.

Once their shoes were off, the woman spoke up again.

"Tsuna-chan is currently resting in her bedroom." she turned a hand in the direction of the staircase, still smiling brightly. "First door on the left."

"Thank you." Yamamoto said, bowing to the woman in time with Gokudera before the two of them started up the steps.

The last thing they heard from the woman was.

"Such handsome young men."

* * *

Tsuna had begun to feel a bit drowsy when footsteps sounded from the other side of her door.

"They're here." Reborn voiced, walking over to wrap his hand around the handle, pulling the swinging piece of wood open.

She had noticed how her clothes had been changed as she was out, her uniform exchanged to a white tank-top under an orange loose-fitting crop t-shirt and black shorts.

Who knew Reborn was arare of her sense of style?

Tsuna watched as the two boys entered the room. Immediately, Gokudera rushed to her side, sitting down on the side of the bed as he looked down at her inspectingly.

"You feeling alright Juudaime?" he asked, keeping his voice calm in consideration to her weekened state.

"My chest hurts, but otherwise I'm fine." Tsuna replied honestly, not even bothering to smoothe the situatio out, trying to make it sound better than it actually were.

She knew Gokudera wouldn't appretiate that.

Glancing behind Gokudera's shoulder, Tsuna spotted Yamamoto looking at her with a guilt stricken expression.

He shook his head, turning his attention towards Reborn.

"What happened to her?" he asked, jerking his head in Tsuna's direction.

Reborn folded his arms in front of his chest, staring intently at Yamamoto.

"That depends on what you saw."

Immediately, Yamamoto launched into a detailed explenation about the heat he had felt, the jerking sensation before crashing into the asphalt, asphalt that just so happened to be scorched.

When he described how Tsuna had suddenly been thrown into a spasmic fit, Gokudera's hand lashed out for her own, but the sudden skin-contact felt too uncomfortable for her, so she slowly slid her hand out of his whilst he was too absorbed into what the athlete was telling them.

Finally, came the most surprising thing of all.

Yamamoto described how a strange blue light traveled through her veins, visible through her skin, before sinking into her heart and calming her down instantly.

What in the world?

Reborn moved a finger to his chin, pondering.

Gokudera however, had the most shoking reaction.

He bolted up from the bed, staring from Reborn to Tsuna with wide, wild eyes before he locked his gace on Reborn.

"You mean to tell me Juudaime doesn't need an outlet?!"

Everything seemed to freeze up for Tsuna.

"Gokudera-kun." she spoke, her voice carrying the weight of her disbelief.

The delinquent's shoulders stiffened at the sound of her voice.

"How do you know about that?" she asked, she sounded almost desperate for the answer, eyes pleading with the silver haired boy.

Bringing up his hand, Gokudera ruffled his hair violently.

Taking a deep breath, he turned towards Tsuna.

"My family is familiar with yours." was his only exprelation before he turned back away from her.

"Erm..." Yamamoto's voice carried over the awkward silence. "I'm not following.

"The DiLeone is my Italian family name and we have this bloodline power to produce and control fire through our determination alone." Tsuna's voice was almost robotic, not once looking away from Gokudera's hunched over frame.

"Cool..." Yamamoto nodded in understanding.

"But where did the blue lights come from?" Tsuna asked, finally turning her attention away from Gokudera to look at Reborn.

The man in question removed the finger from his chin.

"It would appear as though your entire body doesn't just serve as an outlet for your own flames, but it can serve as another person's outlet as well." he explained calmly, glancing between her and Yamamoto.

Tsuna's eyes widened at what that fact entailed.

"So Yamamoto-san..." she couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. So Reborn did it for her.

"He has the potential, yes." he turned his lifeless eyes on Yamamoto, studying him from top to bottom as if evaluating his worth. "Blue flames has tranquilizing abilities, you were incredebly lucky to survive Tsuna." he finished the sentence with a pointed look in Tsuna's direction, as if blaming her for being careless, which wasn't even all that tue.

Sighing heavily, Tsuna nodded.

"I understand."

"Anyway." Reborn waved a hand through the air dismissively. "We'll be sure to further investigate this power in future training."

Tsuna wrcked her mind, trying to imagine what that kind of training would entail.

Reborn turned his attention back to Yamamoto

"Do you have any more questions?"

"One." the athlete replied with a nod. "Just what the hell is she a part of?"

Tsuna's head snapped up at the question.

That was something she wanted to know as well.

Reborn sighed heavily, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"I can't tell you." he stated with a finality to the words that said he wouldn't allow anyone arguing with him about it.

It worked.

Yamamoto looked at the ground for a long moment, then, he raised his head, looking right into Reborn's obsidian orbs.

"Whatever it is, I want in on it."

The room fell into silence.

"What?" Tsuna asked in disbelief, staring wide-eyed at Yamamoto.

"I want in on it." the athlete repeated, still staring intently at Reborn. He threw a quick glance in Tsuna's direction, giving her a good feel for the words he was about to say. "Sawada has saved me twize now, I want to pay her back."

Tsuna, momentarily forgetting that she couldn't sit up, suddenly felt a sharp pain eminating from her chest as she stared at the baseball lover.

At her gasp in pain, everyone turned towards her, but she brushed off their worried expressions.

"Yamamoto-san, _I_ don't even know what I'm in on. Are you sure?" she stared right into his hazel eyes, desperately searching for the tinyest speck of doubt.

"Possitive." Yamamoto replied, no hesitation.

"Juudaime, you can't." Gokudera started, but he was silenced by the cold look of the tutor.

"I think this is up to Yamamoto to decide Gokudera."

"Hai... Reborn-san." Gokudera begrudginly relented.

"I want in." Yamamoto insisted, still fully meeting Tsuna's eyes. "I'm 100% sure."

For a moment, nothing was said, just the two of them staring into each others eyes.

Finally, Tsuna sighed in defeat.

"Fine..."

"Great." Yamamoto smiled putting his hand into his pocket, fishing out his cellphone. "Can I have your contact info?"

Ignoring Gokudera's protests, Yamamoto settled down on the floor next to the bed, allowing them to transfer the information between them without anything in between.

With her number saved, Yamamoto was happy.

Standing up from the floor, he jerked his head towards the closed bedroom door.

"I should to leave now." suddenly, a pained look passed over his face, worrying Tsuna. "The old man will probably be worried if I take too long."

She flashed back to the scene on the roof, where his father had been the last straw to change his mind about jumping. Yamamoto would be going home knowing what he had almost done to the man that had loved and raised him.

Biting her lip, Tsuna made up her mind.

"Yamamoto-san!" Tsuna called out, forcing Yamamoto into a stop, watching as he slowly turned back towards her.

"Yes?" he asked, sounding uncertain.

"I think you should tell your father about what you almost did."

The athlete's eyes widened.

"I..." Yamamoto hesitated, but he didn't look away from her eyes. Eyes that stayed firmly pinned on him, unwavering.

Finally, he nodded.

"I will."

And then he left the room.

With the athlete gone, Reborn turned his attention towards his student.

"Well then." his voice made the two remaining teens look at him. "I will have you know Tsuna, that once you have fully recovered, we will have to restart your training." his expression was dead serious as he spoke. "You're still a long way from complete control."

Slowly, Tsuna nodded in understanding.

"Okay."

"Good." and with that, Reborn too exited the room, leaving Tsuna alone with Gokudera.

Seeing the situation, Gokudera immediately straightened himself up.

"Well then." he said quickly. "I should probably-"

"Gokudera-kun." Tsuna spoke up, making the silver haired boy snap mouth shut, and turn his attention towards her. "I need you to tell me something, and I want you to be honest." she looked at him with the most serious expression she could muster through her weekened state.

"Whatever you need." Gokudera immetiately replied, settling down on the side of the bed, torso twisted towards her so he didn't just see her from the corner of his eye.

"Do you stay by my side because of my bloodline?"

For a second, Gokudera looked shoked, then insulted, then sad. Emotions that all flashed over his face in a matter of seconds.

"No." he answered sharply, no hesitation what so ever as though his response should have been more than obvious. Apparently, Tsuna must have looked as though she still didn't believe him, for he kept talking, turning his face away from hers. "I have gone too long a time without trusting anyone." he gave her a long, gentle look. "I decided to follow you, because you are accepting." a small smile spread over his lips. "Your heart was open for someone like me."

A sigh escaped Tsuna, but she found herself smiling non the less.

"You're doing it again." she mumbled.

"Doing what?" Gokudera frowned, turning fully towards her again.

"Speak the way I imagine a verly romantic guy would speak to his girlfriend." her hands rose up in exasperation, winching slightly at the pain from the movement. She relaxed back into the sheets, giving Gokudera an uncomfortable look. "It's weird."

Gokudera shook his head at her words.

"I am mearly stating my loyalty to you, Juudaime."

"But why are you loyal?" it was a question that had plagued Tsuna for quite a while now, as in her eyes, his devotion towards her had sprung out of nowhere that afternoon in the park, switching his attitude from a glaring loan wolf to something of a loyal guard dog within seconds.

Seeing her distress, Gokudera let out a heavy sigh.

"Juudaime..." he said the word in little more than a whisper, but she caught it anyway. "You are the first one in a long time... to show you care for me, after I had been little more than cold towards you." he reached out an arm, gently taking her hand in his. "Such a kind heart should never go unrewarded." He watched the dainty limb for a long moment, slowly stroking his thumb over her skin before he dared to look up at her.

"I will stay by your side for as long as you want me to." he declared, holding her gaze for what felt like forever.

Tsuna was well aware of the pressure on her hand, and in normal circumstances, she would have felt this terrible panicked sensation, as well as the desire to yank her hand back from him. But... for the first time... she just didn't feel like doing it.

She liked the connection, the heat from his palms enveloping her hands, warming them up.

When was the las time she allowed herself physical contact?

She couldn't remember.

Maybe she did during that three year hole, but she could never be sure.

A small smile spread across her lips.

For she had just realized something.

Something that had slipped her mind entierly.

Summer vacation has now started.

* * *

 **A/N: And there you have it folks, the continuation to the cruel cliffhanger I left you on. God the reactions I recieved for that, I can only imagine what's going to happen once I reach the finishing chapters of this part.**

 **I honestly really love writing on this right now. Let's see how long that last, but your reviews have been able to keep me motivated for a lot longer than usually.**

 **This is a phenomenon to me!**

 **Please tell me what you think, feel, and experienced from this chapter and I shall return with the continuation whenever.**

 **Love.**

 **Me!**


	16. Target 16

**A/N: I don't know what to say…**

 **I was hacked. Yes. Some bastard actually got into my computer and messed it up to the point where I could no longer get onto it. So, my dad sent it to a store to have it fixed, only there was the great risk where everything I had saved and written on it would be completely deleted from the hard-drive, no way to get to them ever again.**

 **But, I thank my almost obsessive writing on this, because my document file was so big that the person cleaning it noticed it and saved it, so nothing was lost!**

 **I'm still miffed about the bastard who ruined my day, and later, week, but that will by no means stop me from writing, nothing will.**

 **I am glad that my favorites are approaching 600, and my followers are approaching 700, not to mention my close to 300 reviews and I really appreciate the words you beautiful humans have taken the time to write about my story.**

 **And so…**

 **Please.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 16:**

 **Save the pickpocket!**

Tsuna had managed to sit up in bed once Sunday arrived, stand up and walk by Thursday.

So there she was, Wednesday afternoon dressing up in white shorts, and orange t-shirt, leaving her long legs bare. The heat was already steaming, there was no need to suffocate her legs with torturous things like socks during the summer.

She was getting her purse ready for going out when her door opened.

Turning around, Tsuna wasn't surprised to see Reborn standing in the doorway.

"Sit on the bed." he ordered, walking inside as he closed the door behind him.

This had become routine since she woke up, so Tsuna knew better than to disobey. Not that she would ever get the crazy idea to _ever_ disobey Reborn, the thought itself was down right lunacy, no sane, logical man or woman with their hearts in the right place would ever think disobeying Reborn would be a good idea.

Dutifully, Tsuna settled down on the mattress as though sitting on a chair, her hands folded in her lap as she watched Reborn stalking over to her.

Once in front of her, he went down on his knees, taking her hand into his.

For what felt like the thousand time, she saw his obsidian eyes glow faintly yellow. Now she knew that was him calling on his own flames, focusing them into his eyes.

It always fascinated her, knowing the control it took just to release the flames into your blood at will. To then be able to control the flow to a specific part of the body... it all seemed light years away for her.

Even though she had managed to do the same thing whilst falling for her life, she had focused it on the entirety of her back, from her waist up to her shoulder-blades. That was a wide area, but to just focus the flames into such a small area such as the eyes... she wondered if she would ever be able to reach that level of control.

She watched as her tutor turned her hand over, spreading her fingers, moving it at the wrist as though he was a doctor looking for injuries in her hand, but she knew what he was really looking at.

The pulsing of her flames. The constant aura of heat surrounding her body, invisible to the naked eye but for a trained flame user, it was an easy task.

Reborn had become more and more open with her these past few days, asking her questions in stead of ignoring them, and she was eternally grateful for that.

By the way, a flame user was one who had gained control of their inner fires, capable of producing it through some sort of "outlet", meaning a metal or stone. Because of these people, special fabric was produced to withstand the fire because they were unable to control them.

Those who could do that, were called "flame manipulators" and that was what Tsuna was. A person born with the natural ability to produce and control the flames originating inside of us.

She still had no idea what she had been dragged into through.

That secret, Reborn was keeping inside a top secret vault with doors so thick a human being could have fallen into the mold whilst it was being made, his feet on the outside of the door and his head on the inside.

Tsuna gave an involuntary shudder.

Since when did she start having such disturbing thoughts.

After a moment, Reborn allowed Tsuna's hand to fall back into her lap and the eerie glow in his eyes finally faded away, leaving only the obsidian irises behind.

"Perfect." he stated, rising to his feet. "No abnormalities in the pulse of the flames." he looked her right in the eye with a calmer expression than the one he had been wearing for the past couple of days. "I think it's safe to say you're back to normal."

Tsuna couldn't help the relieved exhale from slipping out between her lips.

"Now." Reborn spoke up, bringing her attention back to him as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Pump some flames into your bloodstream."

Tsuna was shocked at the instruction.

He must really think she was alright if he asked this. But there was a small problem concerning it.

Tsuna hadn't actively tried to access her core for weeks, she had to worry whether she was still capable of doing it.

Sighing heavily, Tsuna straightened out her back, allowing her head to fall forward slightly as she slowly closed her eyes, cutting off the light within the room.

Funnily enough, she had expected it to take a few minutes before she felt the familiar ball of pulsing heat somewhere in the center of her chest. But... the second she closed her eyes, the searing heat hit her consciousness with such a brutal force that her breath was knocked out with it.

Gasping, her eyes snapped open.

The heat was still there, right at the center of her chest, and it burned to the point of absolute agony.

Breathless, she clutched at the fabric of her top, doubling over in a desperate attempt to try and quell the pain.

Within second, Reborn was next to her, hands on her shoulders from behind as he tried to pull her back, to straighten her back.

"Tsuna." she heard his deep voice through her heaved breathing.

Why was he pulling her back? Her pain was ebbing away.

Or was that the world slowly clouding over?

"Tsuna." Reborn spoke again, sounding much more determined than before. "You're limiting your lung capacity by doing that, sit up." and he actually managed to force her back up, straightening out her spine. His hand snaked over to the front of her neck, forcing up her chin, and before she knew what hit her, a huge amount of oxygen filled her lungs.

It was so sudden, with such a force against her ribcage, that it sent her into a coughing fit.

It took a few moments before Tsuna found herself capable to properly breathe again.

"Tsuna?" Reborn's questioning tone spoke up once her breathing no longer came out in breathless puffs. His hand rested between her shoulder blades. "What did you feel?"

It took another moment before Tsuna located her voice.

"Has..." she gasped, swallowing down her brief hiccuping before she felt she could continue. "Has it become stronger?" she turned her face in Reborn's direction, the shock clear on her face.

A sigh escaped the man's lips.

"I can't tell until you've released some into your bloodstream." he rubbed his thumb over her skin, oddly enough soothing her of the pain in her chest.

Yes, it was still there, but now barely more than an aching memory than something actually painful.

"Think you can do that?" he asked carefully, brushing the hair out of her eyes.

"I... I think so..." Tsuna mumbled.

It had been such a huge shock before. She had been so unprepared to the massive amount of pulsing flame that appeared to have doubled in size since the last time she felt for the core. Now, she had a better feel for just what she would find when she looked inside herself.

Hopefully, she wouldn't become as overwhelmed.

Taking a deep breath, she allowed her eyes to fall closed.

There is was, large and pulsing at the center of her chest.

With frightening ease, Tsuna wrapped her will around it, slowly squeezing it, allowing the sizzling fire to seep out into her veins.

The last time she had done this, she would have needed to squeeze for three seconds at least before she felt a difference, but now, that one squeeze was enough to send her skin tingling.

She could feel Reborn's experienced eyes pinned on her as she felt the flames steadily pumping through her body, coursing alongside her blood with a comforting heat. It was like lying under the sun on the beach in the middle of summer, only the heat was coming from the inside.

It was a strange experience.

"Alright, that's enough." Reborn's voice sounded through the previous silence, knocking her out of her thoughts.

Opening her eyes, Tsuna sat completely motionless until the flames faded out of existence, knowing that movement will just keep fanning them, keeping them alive for longer than one trip through the body should allow for.

Once she couldn't feel the fire anymore, she turned her head towards Reborn. Waiting.

The tutor studied her for a moment before he opened his mouth.

"Sometimes, when one releases a vast amount of flames all at the same time, they empty out the core." he explained slowly, eyes pinned on her head.

Tsuna flashed back to when she was falling off the school roof. Just how much fire had she released back then?

Reborn's voice brought her out of her wondering.

"When that happens, the core expands on itself, becoming larger in an attempt for that to not happen again." he pinned her with a serious expression. "An empty core equals no more strength your will and determination can feed off of, and so, your body knocks itself out." his eyes narrowed dangerously. "If it's bad enough, or if the person is left alone, you can even die due to your heart or brain no longer having the strength to keep working."

Tsuna's eyes widened at his words.

Turning away from him, Tsuna allowed herself to fold over, leaning her forearms on her knees and tightly weaving her fingers together as she stared down at the ground.

Just how many times would she brush with death like that?

She wasn't suicidal! Never have been!

Swallowing heavily, she finally dared to open her mouth.

"How did I survive then?"

A hand landed on her shoulder.

"The yellow flames can be used for many purposes." Reborn's voice was surprisingly gentle, running his hand over her shoulder. "I kick-started your flame generating process as soon as I got you home."

Tsuna's head snapped towards him, her eyes wide with fear.

"Won't the same thing happen like the last time you used your flames on me?" she asked, her voice only seconds away from trembling.

Slowly, Reborn shook his head.

"That only happens when there is nothing to heal or activate in your body." he kept his face calm, hoping that his attitude would rub off on her. "You're perfectly safe."

It took a moment for Tsuna accepted this, but finally, she allowed herself to calm down.

Taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to straighten out, fall back against her bed, feeling the crown of her skull brushing against the wall before she collided with the sheets.

One of the few times she appreciated her short stature.

A pleased expression on his face, Reborn looked down on his student.

"You've done great progress." he noted, lifting his hand to allow it to fall over her own limp one resting at her side. "Most DiLeone have to train several years before they even brush against the same level of control and power that you display."

Tsuna's couldn't help the exasperated huff that escaped her lips.

"By almost dying." she raised herself up on her forearms, staring at her tutor. "Forgive me if I'm not all that hyped up over my _progress_." she let herself fall back against the sheets, staring up at the ceiling with a close-to blank expression in her eyes.

Reborn chose to ignore this behavior.

"Your training will resume tomorrow." he stated, getting off the bed.

Sighing heavily, Tsuna nodded in understanding.

Suddenly, her eyebrows curved into a frown, her hands moving to her wrist where she immediately began scratching her skin with her blunt nails.

For some reason, her skin always started itching whenever the flames had fully ebbed away from her veins.

It was annoying.

Noticing her action, Reborn's expression softened the slightest.

"It will stop itching after a while." he said, "Your skin is not yet used to the fire flooding in your veins, once it is, the itching will stop occurring."

For a moment, Tsuna said nothing, then, her head moved against the sheets in an understanding nod.

A knock sounded through the room, cutting off any conversation that could have gone on.

Reborn was at the door within seconds, almost ripping it open.

There stood Gokudera, wearing a blood red and black raglan hoodie, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows as always, wrists covered in leather bangles and rings on his fingers. So nothing really different than from what he usually wore, but he couldn't have been a more welcomed sight.

"Reborn-san." Gokudera greeted with a small bow to his head before he turned to Tsuna. "You ready to go?"

"One second." Tsuna answered, holding up a finger.

Quickly, she fished up her purse from the floor, hung it over her shoulders, and with a quick wave to Reborn, she was out the door, closely followed by the delinquent.

Shaking his head, Reborn turned his eyes away from where his student had just disappeared.

Moving towards her bedroom window, he watched through the curtains as she and her male friend. It looked so normal, so casual... but he knew that Sawada Tsunako was anything but normal.

He would have to tell her soon, that was a given.

He'd wait until she had mastered the basics though, then, then he would take her aside and tell her everything she wanted to know.

Shouldn't take more than a few weeks or so.

* * *

Tsuna really couldn't understand why Nana had called Gokudera for this.

She didn't even understand why her mother had become so insistent on keeping contact with her friend ever since they exchanged contact information during the one time Tsuna had invited the guy home for dinner.

Did friends normally exchange contact information with ones parents?

She didn't think so.

As she and Gokudera stepped out of the convenience store, almost an hour after they had first stepped out of her front door, she was fully aware as to why Gokudera had been called.

The young man was carrying three large paper bags in his arms, having absolutely refused to allow her to carry even the one.

Now usually, she would have brushed this sort of behavior off as Gokudera's regular over-protectiveness, but the two of them had long since agreed that he would never do something for her that the two of them both knew would be too physically challenging for him, and judging by the way he was struggling with the position of the bags in his arms, this was most certainly too much for him.

"You really don't need to do this." she insisted with a sigh.

Shaking his head, Gokudera once again adjusted his hold on the bags.

"Juudaime is still recovering." he insisted, using the same excuse he had used the entire way from the check-out point.

"I'm recovering, not invalid." Tsuna argued, her voice raising slightly to mirror her emotions at Gokudera's insinuations.

"Let me do something for you." the young man asked, looking at her from over the top of the bags, meeting her eyes for the first time since he had practically hid his face behind the begs after packing them.

"You've already done more than enough." Tsuna practically yelled in exasperation.

Stepping out in front of her friend, she put her hands on the bags, she forced the young delinquent into a halt.

For a long moment, the two of them just looked at each other.

"What's really bothering you?" she asked, not breaking their eye-contact.

She watched as a flash of regret entered those olive orbs. Realization washing over her even before her friend opened his mouth.

"Not catching you before you fell off the school roofs." Gokudera's voice was little more than a whisper as he forced the words out through his mouth.

Annoyed, Tsuna shook her head.

"I'm not holding that against you." she whispered, placing her hand over the back of his own.

Gokudera practically ripped his eyes away from hers, directing them towards the ground.

"I am."

She looked at her friend for a long moment, taking in the look of absolute regret on his face before she let go of a long breath, shaking her head at his protectiveness of her.

Squaring her shoulders, she reached out and snatches one of the bags from his grip.

"Juudaime, what are you-?" Gokudera tried to speak up.

Tsuna didn't allow him too.

"It's a compromise." she said, adjusting the grip on the bag as she stubbornly looked the young man right in the eye.

Reluctantly, Gokudera gave an understanding nod.

With a pleased smile, Tsuna continued walking, Gokudera closely following behind her.

* * *

They were walking through the park when they heard it.

The terrified screams of a young kid overshadowing the angered cries of a man.

Looking ahead of them, they spotted a young boy, couldn't have been much older than eight years old, dressed in tattered jeans and a dirty cow-print shirt and sporting a head of messy black curls, closely followed by a muscly bald man in a white tank-top and a dragon tattoo lining his right arm.

The look in the man's eye was absolutely murderous.

The kid on the other hand, rightfully, looked scared for his life.

Gokudera immediately recognized the kid.

He had, after all, seen him two times already. One time being the cause of his anger after he had snatched his wallet on his way home, and the other causing a moment of fear as he had caused Juudaime one of her attacks.

Speaking of Juudaime, her eyes had widened at the sight.

As they watched, the man was slowly gaining on the kid.

Gokudera looked away, mentally preparing to drag Juudaime away from the scene, seeing as he had a feeling she wouldn't be able to handle seeing a young boy get pummeled to the ground because of his own reckless behavior.

It didn't happen that way.

Once he turned towards Juudaime, she had already settled her bags down on a nearby bench and rushed towards the two as fast as her legs could carry her.

Not caring who heard him, Gokudera burst into a chain of curses.

Juudaime was anything but what one might considder brave, but self-sacrificing in instances where she witnesses her moral code being broken or someone weaker than herself in desperate need of help?

Yes, yes she was.

How the hell could he have forgotten that aspect of her?

It hadn't been that long since he had last witnessed that trait in action. Excluding the rooftop incident which. Quite frankly. He wanted to forget.

* * *

 _They had been driving back home from school just like any other day. Zooming down the road, through the apparent maze of buildings down the familiar route that they had taken so many times before._

 _That was part of the reason why the sudden pounding on his back was suck a surprise._

 _Gokudera had practically been forced into abruptly stopping the bike in the middle of the road, just having time to guide it to the sidewalk before he killed the engine._

 _Turning his head around to his passanger, he narrowly managed to dodge her leg as she swung it over the side of the bike._

 _Before he got the chance to say anything, she had already sett off down the road they had just passed, not even bothering to take the time to remove her helmet._

" _JUUDAIME!" he called after her, watching as she turned into the playground they had just passed._

 _Cursing quite loudly, Gokudera practically ripped his keys from the engine, ensuring that no one would be able to easily steal it, and took off after the young woman._

 _Turning down her same rout, he froze at what he saw in front of him._

 _Juudaime had taken off her helmet, sitting on her knees in front of a crying girl surrounded by two other girls._

 _They couldn't have been older than five, and the crying girl was sporting a large scrape on her right knee._

 _Whispering what Gokudera could only assume were soothing words of comfort, he watched as Juudaime reached into her school bag, which he just now realized she had brought with her in her run._

 _She didn't rummage through the bag's contents for long before she pulled out a small, decorated container sealed together with a zipper._

 _Opening it, she revealed it to be a small first-aid kit of all things._

 _Gokudera's eyes widened at the sight._

 _Normal people would just keep a few band-aids on them, but Juudaime was carrying actual bandages and disinfectant as well._

 _This worried him a bit, seeing as she had obviously felt like she needed to carry those things around at all times, otherwise she wouldn't have bothered._

 _With practices ease, Juudaime gently cleaned the girl's scrape, making sure not to put too much pressure on it or cause too much pain seeing as the girl was already feeling quite a bit of it._

 _During this, the girl's cries turned into sniffles, her friends rubbing her back in comfort as they allowed Juudaime to work._

 _Gokudera just remained at the park's gate posts, knowing that his appearance had a tendency to scare kids away from him, and that wouldn't do at the moment._

 _Slowly, Juudaime wrapped the scrape up in bandage, obviously deeming a simple band-aid to have been too small for that scrape._

 _Once finished, she smiled gently at the girl._

" _Now you be sure to be more careful in the future, alright?" she said, still smiling, but her eyes held the iron of seriousness._

 _The girl actually managed a cheerful smile through her tear-stained cheeks, nodding as her friends helped her back to her feet._

" _Bye bye nee-chan!" the girl called out as her friends helped her to limp away._

" _Bye!" Juudaime called back, waving her hand._

 _Having tired of standing on the sidelines, Gokudera slowly walked up to Juudaime's side, standing on her right as the two of them watched the children walk away from the playground, disappearing behind the concrete wall._

 _Once alone, he turned towards her._

" _Why did you do that?" he asked, keeping his voice low._

 _A small smile crept to the corner of her mouth, her eyes closing as a light laugh escaped her throat._

" _I've always had a soft-spot for those younger than me." she answered softly, turning half-way towards him. "Animals too." she turned her head back in the direction the girls had gone. "I just can't keep myself from jumping in when I know someone physically weaker than me is in need of help."_

 _Nodding, Gokudera looked down at the kit still clutched in her hand._

 _Seeing where he was looking, Tsuna brought it up between them, mindlessly fiddling with the zipper._

" _I've kept this since middle-school." she stated, a darker chuckle rolling off her lips in an almost monotone fashion. "With how much I tended to trip back then, I needed it."_

 _Gokudera's eyebrow rose the slightest._

" _Why didn't you bring it out when the baseball-idiot broke his arm?"_

 _To his surprise, she looked at him as though he was crazy._

" _I can only treat minor injuries." she said. "If I had tried to fix that kind of broken bone, I could have made it worse!" she threw her hands out in exclamation, her eyes widening in horror at the idea of what her inexperience could have done should she have tried to treat the athlete when they had found him._

 _Lightly ruffling his hair, Gokudera let out a soft sight._

" _We should go." he said, jerking his head in the direction he had left the bike._

 _Thankfully, she agreed without too much trouble._

* * *

Gokudera couldn't help but to curse himself.

How could he have forgotten why he had decided to follow her in the first place?

Quickly setting the bags down next to the one she had left behind, Gokudera quickly set off after the young woman, his one hand reaching into his back pocket as he went.

There was no way he would allow Juudaime to get hurt because of her angelic morals.

* * *

Once again, whilst running, Tsuna can feel herself getting lighter through her steps.

She could also feel the light pumping of the flames that had managed to escape at her sudden descicion.

Was the flames making her lighter?

She would have to check that out later.

In front of her, she could see the running kid at a much closer distance, and from the looks of it, he was truly, frightened for his life.

Then, the one thing that couldn't happen in that moment, happened.

The kid must have been running for quite some time trying to get away from the man, for suddenly, his knee buckled under him and he tumbled to the asphalt, letting out a loud cry of pain as he went down.

Seconds later, the man was on the kid.

She watched as he violently grabbed him by his curly black hair and yanked him to his feet, the kid bravely holding in his cries of pain, desperately clutching onto the man's forearm, using his own muscles to reduce his weight and thus the pain in his scalp as his feet dangled half a foot off of the ground.

She sees the man raise his arm, hand tightly clenched in a fist as he prepared to strike the kid.

She just couldn't allow that to happen.

Without really thinking, she rammed herself with all of her strength, which she knew really wasn't that much.

That was why she was so surprised at just how far he flew.

A good few feet before he himself crashed to the asphalt.

She hoped that would give her the time she needed.

Running to the boy, she took him into her arms, cradling his trembling frame against her chest as she rubbed him over the back, trying to ease the pain he was obviously in.

Glancing to the side, she watched as the man picked himself off the ground, his anger practically radiating around his head.

There was no way she would be able to get away with the kid like this.

Fury in his eyes, the man stomped over to them, hands clenched at his sides.

"Why would you defend such a brat?!" he screamed, making the kid twitch in Tsuna's arms. She couldn't help but to tighten her hold on him.

Before she knew it, she felt her face morph into that same, familiar calm.

She narrowed her eyes at the man, her expression otherwise relaxing. For a split second, the man could have sworn he saw the image of a growling lion covering her, her messed up hair only adding to the image by giving a physical mane to the illusion.

For a split second, he completely froze up.

"No grown up should ever raise a hand against a child." her voice was deeper than one would expect from such a petite young woman, her hand brushing over the kid's curls as she stared down the man in front of her.

It took a moment before the man seemed to realize that the girl was just that, a girl, and a very small one too.

"I don't give a shit." he growled, stomping up the last couple of steps until he was just in front of the two.

What little rage that had entered Tsuna's body washed away the second she saw the man raise his hand. Letting her arms fall from the kid's quivering frame, she tightly shut her eyes as the meaty hand grabbed hold of the hair at the back of her head.

With a pained yelp, Tsuna was yanked away from the kid's side, forcefully brought back to her feet as the man loudly growled in anger.

Bringing her up to his face, Tsuna was suddenly hit with a wave of a horrible smell that threatened to make her dinner crawl back up her throat.

"I do whatever the fuck I want!" the man bellowed, making Tsuna flinch at the sound, even more so when he gave her head a rough shake.

Suddenly, something very distinctive found itself pointed at the man's temple.

Tsuna felt her eyes widen in familiar fear at the sight of the object, her blood running cold as an unpleasant memory hit her like a ton of bricks.

A gun.

Slick, and black, and well polished, of a different brand than the one that had been pointed at her at the start of the school year.

She felt terribly cold at that very moment, actively forcing her core to not act up.

"Then it's only fair for me to do what I want then." a familiar, gravelly voice sounded through the air. "Isn't it?"

Turning her head at the same time as the man, Tsuna found herself staring at the profile of a very furious Gokudera, though his fury was concealed behind a face of indifference, his olive eyes pinned on the side of the man's face.

Wide eyed, Tsuna just couldn't seem to properly register what she was seeing.

In front of her, the man chuckled. Though his chuckle sounded slightly panicked.

"You're not going to shoot me." he mumbled, his voice betraying the fear he was really feeling.

Shrugging his shoulders, Gokudera pressed the gun harder against the man's temple.

"I don't give a damn what you think."

He glanced at Tsuna from the corner of his eye, seeing the absolute fear on her face.

His eyes narrowed into a glare, his finger tightening on the trigger as he turned his attention back to the man.

"Drop. The girl." He growled with such a menacing tone that Tsuna could feel the frightened shivers running through the man through his hand. Or… were that her own shivers?

Eyes locked on Gokudera from the corner of his vision, the man's hand tightened on her hair before he brutally shoved her away from him, sending her skidding a short distance over the asphalt and yanking yet another pained cry from her lips.

Eyes having locked on Tsuna the second she was pushed away, a furious growl ripped it's way from his throat as he turned his attention back to the man.

That, apparently, was as much panic the man could handle, as he chose to turn tail and run from the scene, leaving the three on the scene.

Gokudera stared after the retreating figure, gun still raised, until he vanished from his line of sight.

The second the man was gone, Gokudera practically threw himself onto the ground at Tsuna's side, dropping the gun as he put his hands on her shoulders, looking her right in the eye with a slightly panicked expression.

"Are you alright?" he asked frantically, looking over every exposed part of her body, which unfortunately happened to be quite a bit with her wearing shorts.

"Yeah..." Tsuna insisted, eyes firmly pinned on the gun. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Sighing, Gokudera grabbed hold of her head, one hand on either cheek as he forcefully turned her attention towards him, locking his eyes with hers.

"That was really stupid of you, Juudaime." he stated, a frown marring his aristocratic features as he looked at her. "Just running off into trouble like that." his hands fell to her shoulders.

Ignoring his words, Tsuna's eyes moved back to the gun on the ground.

The last time she had seen one of those things outside of the TV screen, she had wound up in a three week long coma.

Seeing one again… really put her on edge.

"Where did you get that?" she asked frantically, turning towards the man she had dubbed her best friend. Her eyes wide as she took in Gokudera's calm demeanor.

He let out a long sigh as he calmly brushed her over the hair.

"I always carry one with me."

Her attention snapped towards him.

"You have more than one?"

Choosing to ignore this question, Gokudera looked away from Tsuna, his hand once again closing around the handle of his gun as he picked it up and brought it into the general direction of his back pocket.

Gun put away, he looked back at Tsuna.

"I found them necessary when living in Italy."

A pained whimper cut off any and all thought she still had surrounding her friends questionable possession or the reason as to why he would have the need for them in the first place.

That would have to wait for another time.

The two teen turned around to see the kid sitting a few feet away from them, his one hand clutching tightly at a rip in his shirt where Tsuna was sure he would be sporting a particularly terrible scratch. One that would be worse than the other scrapes and bruises that littered over his small body.

Glancing further down, she couldn't help but to notice that he wasn't wearing shoes.

His feet too, was covered in scrapes, though the majority of them looked like he had scraped up the scabs of older ones.

He looked to be in terrible pain.

Carefully, she crawled over towards the kid, falling to her knees in front of him.

Having fallen into shadow, the kid looked up at Tsuna, and his eyes widened in obvious recognition at the sight of her. Of course, this left Tsuna in a state of utter confusion as she didn't remember ever seeing the kid before.

Glancing down at the hand clutching the thin arm, she instinctively reached out towards him, her fingertips brushing against the back of his hand, making him flinch at her touch.

He shied away from her, eyes firmly pinned on the ground, refusing to look at her.

"Please..." she whispered softly, still holding out her hand. "Don't be afraid of me." she gave him her kindest smile, hoping that the kid would ease up.

He threw a hasty glance in Gokudera's direction, his features contorting into more of an actual fear for his life rather than the shocked fear he wore when looking at her.

He obviously recognized Gokudera as well. But how?

She turned back towards her friend.

"You know this kid?" she asked softly, letting her hands fall into her lap.

Gokudera had rose from the ground, and Tsuna found herself consciously looking for the lump in one of his pockets where the gun should be located.

She frowned when she didn't find any.

Where had it disappeared off to?

Gokudera scowled as he brushed his hands over his pants, dusting off some of the dirt that had stuck to them.

"He's a pick pocket." he answered courtly.

Meaning, the kid was the one that had gotten to Gokudera. Tsuna added in her mind as she allowed her eyes to wander over the kid's appearance once again.

It hurt her to think that someone as young as this boy would have to resort to pick-pocketing.

Gokudera wasn't done talking however, much to her surprise.

"He's also the kid that crashed into you last week."

This made her frown, but in confusion this time.

Tsuna had, by no means, a bad memory. So why couldn't she remember a kid crashing into her at some point last week? One would think one would remember something like that.

Seeing her obvious trouble, Gokudera decided to elaborate.

"You had a fit right after the collision."

Now, a memory came back to her.

The feel of the sudden crash against her side that had shocked her to the point of her heartbeat speeding away on her right outside of the convenience store.

It had been one of the scariest moments of her life, feeling as though her heart was attempting to beat its way out out of her ribcage. Of course she wouldn't have been paying any attention to her surroundings at that moment.

It was no wonder she couldn't recall seeing the little boy that had crashed into her.

Slowly, she turned back towards the kid, feeling a wave of sadness washing over her as she noticed him still staring at her in fear.

Releasing a deep breath, she gave him a gentle smile.

"What's your name?" she asked softly.

The kid hesitated, then, with a small voice uttered:

"Lambo Bocca."

* * *

 **A/N: Guess who was able to download a different writing program, this time with English spell chek!**

 **ME!**

 **Anyway, please tell me what you thought, anything you might have thought when reading the chapter, I want to know, the more honest the better.**

 **I'll be back with another chapter shortly.**

 **Love.**

 **Me.**


	17. Target 17

**A/N: 700 followers?**

 **I… I just can't even...**

 **Funnily enough, I actually finished this chapter BEFORE I finished the previous one. I had laid out what was going to happen in the chapter step-by-step beforehand and discovered that what I had planned would have left me with an all-too-long chapter, and so, I split it in two!**

 **This is officially my longest fanfiction to date. Not my longest story ever written but actually not that far off, just about 20,000 more words written and I will have passed that line.**

 **I have at the very least 10 more chapters planned for this Arch of the story, at which point I will appoint "It's in her Blood" as COMPLETE, and I shall start the second Arch of the story as a separate fanfiction.**

 **I believe this will make it easier for me to actually bring a story to a close, splitting up the workload and make a series of fanfics in stead of just the one massive one.**

 **For some reason, I'm writing this with a British accent in my head, I just realized that.**

 **Anyway…**

 **Please.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 17:**

 **Lambo Bocca, the homeless sweetheart**

'Lambo Bocca', Tsuna repeated in her head as she noticed Gokudera's hands clenching.

That was an italian name.

Considdering her history with the cuntry, that just couldn't be good.

But... she just couldn't leave him here.

Gently, she put her hand on the kid's shoulder, feeling him trembling under her touch as she carefully, calmly, gently, rubbed her thumb over the boy's collarbone. He turned his trembling head towards her, meeting her eyes for the first time.

She smiled softly.

"Where do you live?" she asked, keeping her voice barely louder than a whisper.

She didn't need to speak louder than that. She was afraid to do so.

Eyes widening, Lambo started to fidget something terrible.

"Why do you want to know?" his throat convulsed into a hiccup before the last words slipped out between his lips.

Tsuna deliberately kept her eyebrows from twitching into a frown.

He was too frightened. Too guarded for any (apparent) eight year old to be.

Just what had he gone through?

Calming herself, Tsuna brushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

"We need to get those scrapes treated." she smiled again, making a point to look the kid right in the eye as she crouched in front of him.

"Juudaime." Gokudera spoke up from behind her. She silenced him with a raised hand.

She didn't have time for his overprotective nature right now.

Under her hand, she felt the kid tremble even more violently than he were before.

"L-L-Lambo-san can d-do it h-himself." his young voice stuttered, turning his face away from hers, pointedly looking anywhere but at her face.

He glanced at her hand from the corner of his almost impossibly bright eyes.

It was a shame that he was so terribly frightened. Those eyes could be glowing should he be the happy child that she knew he was under the fear.

It was no question about it.

From where her hand rested on his shoulder, she could definitely feel it.

It was an eerie feeling, the sensation of another human beings active flame core frantically sending erratic pulses of contained flames through the body. It was at that moment that she knew, only the fabric of the dirtied cow-print shirt was keeping her skin from absorbing those flames and allow them free range of her body from the inside.

She didn't know how she knew this, but she did.

It was a good thing the fabric was in the way, she knew that too. Whatever kind of color of flame this kid has, she is absolutely positive that it is not blue.

She was knocked out of her train of thought when Lambo suddenly started to raise himself off of the asphalt, awkwardly, mindful of his scrapes as he moved. He couldn't quite get the balance necessary to rise as his hand still clutched at his arm, making his ascent unsteady.

Quickly, Tsuna brought her hands up so his forearms, steadying him.

"You won't get to everything yourself." she insisted, maneuvering her head to force the kid to look her in the eyes again.

"Juudaime." Gokudera spoke up again, his voice more insistent than before. "You really shouldn't be doing this." there was an irritated tremble to his gravely voice. She could just imagine him frantically ruffling his hair. "We don't even know the damn kid!"

She chose to block out his words.

Keeping her gaze locked with Lambo's, she could tell that her stubborn streak was showing in her eyes, and Lambo, proving to be an uncommonly perceptive kid, could see it.

Hesitantly, his head bobbed into an agreeing nod.

On instinct, Tsuna raised her hand to place her palm against the boy's dirt covered cheek.

A sprit second after the touch, Tsuna recalled her previous relief at the fabric obscuring the actual skin contact between her and the boy. The second that followed, she realized that she could no longer feel the pounding underneath his skin.

She almost frowned at this revelation.

Then it hit her.

Everything about her bloodline powers were one way or the other directly tied to her emotions. Determination to bring it forward and more than likely control it. So… why wouldn't her determination for her desire to reach someone be the trigger for the strange, absorbing portion of her power?

The second it reached him, that power was no longer activated.

Smiling, she brushed her thumb over his cheek, weaving her fingers into the ebony curls at the back of his neck, instinctively knowing that the gesture would serve as a calming stimulant.

She could feel the nerves under his skin relaxing under her touch, making her relief at his change of attitude towards her all the more filling.

Leaning her head in close towards his, she lowered her voice into an actual whisper.

"You just wait here for one second."

* * *

"This is a really, bad idea." Gokudera voiced as he picked his two bags up from the bench.

Sighing, Juudaime secured her own grip around hers. Allowing it to rest on her hip, she turned towards her friend, brushing her hair out of her eyes and behind her ear in one stroke.

"I really don't care." she took on an expression that Gokudera rarely saw on her. Her stubborn side, the side of her personality that really wouldn't stand for someone telling her she can't do something.

She herself, had told him he needed to have the ability to tell her no, and it had taken quite some time before he had truly understood why he needed to have that ability.

She was a very understanding and caring young woman with a great sense of empathy and the understanding of human nature for someone whom had been bullied for so long, but perhaps that is what made her so observant to it.

The bullying had also ensured that she cared little about how other people treat her, even if she was physically abused. But, if there ever was an incident concerning something or someone she cared deeply about, she would suddenly become unmovable, stubborn to the point of a rock being more changeable than her own mind or opinion.

She was aware of this streak of hers, and she knew she would maybe, one day, need someone of his intellect to persuade her from something that may end up as a dangerous.

This, however, was not such a moment.

Watching Juudaime shifting her gaze, he followed her eyes to look at the boy standing just a few feet away from them, staring at the ground with a constantly shifting stance.

Looking back at Juudaime, he noticed her stature relaxing at the sight of the kid.

Observant as she has always been, Juudaime turned her head back to him just seconds after he did.

She took a deep breath, eyes closing for a brief second before she looked at him again, that stubborn expression back on her face.

"By now, you should have learned to trust my hunches." she stated, her voice lower than it was before, her gaze shifting back to the kid every other second.

He saw her fingers tightening around the paper of the bag before she took a step closer to him, eyes now carrying intent in those chocolate orbs.

"He's activated, Gokudera-kun." she whispered.

Gokudera felt his own eyes widening at her words, his own sight shifting back to the boy for a split second before he returned it back on Juudaime.

He forced himself to shake his head, clearing his mind of his shock.

"How do you know?" he managed to utter after a couple of swallows.

She took yet another step towards him, closing the distance between even further.

"I could feel it." she whispered, speaking with a voice filled to the brink with shocked awe at her own words. And he could feel it too. "I think..." she continued, glancing back at the kid. "I managed to repeat what I instinctively did back with Yamamoto-san after the fall." Gokudera felt his temper flare inside his chest at the reminder of her second brush with death.

To think that he had almost not met her, and almost lost her once he had.

"Only this time," Juudaime continued, forcing Gokudera to return his focus to her voice. "In stead of tapping into someone's dormant flames, I could feel his active ones pulsing through his body, even without actual skin contact."

The crinkling of paper sounded as her fingers twitched.

Gokudera was proud to say that he himself was also a very good judge of a persons thoughts and emotions. No where near as talented as Juudaime, of course, but he knew his fare share.

He never had to use those skills on the woman standing in front of him.

Just one other reason as to why he followed her.

"You're not responsible for this kid Juudaime." he whispered back to her, not really trying to convince her of changing her mind, he knew it wouldn't do much.

"I feel like I am." Juudaime whispered back, eyes not wavering.

Sighing, Gokudera shuck his head in an exasperated manner.

"Alright..." he breathed, no longer whispering. "You win."

To his surprise, she frowned at him.

"Please tell me you're not just saying that." her head tilted in that familiar way it always did whenever she believed he was restraining his own opinions.

His lip twitched into a smirk as he shook his head once again, this time in response to her question.

"No." once again, he glanced back at the boy whom was obviously starting to become restless just standing there. "He is just a kid." he agreed with her mindset. "He couldn't cause you any physical damage." she rolled her eyes at his words, but a smile played on her lips.

It was strange to him, knowing that someone could understand him as well as he could understand someone else, and allow it. But seeing as it was Juudaime, he didn't feel threatened by it.

He had to force his face into a scowl.

"But I still don't trust him." he snarled.

Juudaime's smile just widened, a light laugh slipping from her lips as she shook her head in an amused fashion as she started her steps to walk around him.

"You don't trust anyone." she chuckled.

"I trust you." Gokudera immediately interjected, spinning around as she continued her steps towards the kid.

She paused, her smile still remaining as she turned back towards him.

"Well, apparently, I'm not anyone, am I?"

It was a retorical question. She quickly turned back towards the kid, putting a hand gently on his shoulder as to not startle him.

Gokudera watched as the kid looked up at her, those bright eyes staring at her in awed worry.

It was at these moments that Gokudera completely forgot just what she really were, and what she was going to become one day.

"No… you are not."

* * *

As the teens soon discovered. Lambo was faster, and more agile than the both of them put together.

He maneuvered himself through the trees expertly and quicker than a snake, or a squirrel. With the agility of a monkey, he swung himself from certain branches, performing moves that could only be described as self-taught par-core.

The teens actually lost complete sight of the kid on several occasions, making them fear that he had changed his mind and bolted on them, but they always found him waiting behind a tree just a few more steps into the forest he had lead them into with a quiet apology before he continued leading them god-knows-where further into the labyrinth of thick trees.

It was when they reached a particularly old one, hollowed out by nature.

He let his young hand wander over the bark longer than any other in the woods.

"What's wrong?" Tsuna asked, taking a few cautious steps in his direction.

For a moment, the kid said nothing. Then, he quickly shook his head, glancing back at Tsuna over his shoulder.

"It's nothing." he muttered, and kept walking.

Weaving through the trees for another ten minuted, the small group finally came to a stop in the middle of a small clearing, small enough and with branches so tightly woven together that very little light was able to slip in through.

From an artistic standpoint, Tsuna couldn't help but to think the scene belonged in a Gothic photograph somewhere. She didn't like the feel she got from the place.

Tsuna was the first to notice the door.

Almost completely hidden under tall grass was a large, rusty, metal door sunken into a raised area in the ground. Lambo was walking towards it with a much more confident stride in his steps than before, he grabbed onto the handle of the door, standing along the long side of the rectangle the metal created, and pulled it open.

It didn't open correctly, giving off this horrible screeching noise as the kid pilled.

Frowning, Lambo bumped the metal with his knee.

A light clicking noise was heard, and as Lambo kept pulling, the horrible noise was a much more bearable one.

The kid shoved the door open the rest of the way, sending it swinging onto the grassy ground with a surprisingly soft 'thud'.

There was now a hole, a square opening that revealed a shadowed staircase leading down into the ground. Tsuna could feel the damp air almost radiate from the dark depths, giving her a hint on just how deep the stairs went, along with how long the door had been closed.

It was a bomb shelter.

The kid had lead them to a bomb shelter in the middle of the forest, and an old one too.

The thing had probably been around since the world wars or longer.

Briefly, Tsuna and Gokudera shared a look.

The kid threw a passing glance in their direction before he slid down the stairs into the darkened depths, closely followed by the two teenagers.

For a moment, everything was completely black. But then, a small, pale orange light illuminated the end of the staircase, showing off the entrance to a small, make-shift home.

Walls supported with boards and pillars, ceiling held up with half-rotten poles, and floors being little more than stamped-down soil. A small pile of ragged blankets formed a poor excuse for a bed in one of the corners, the only light coming from an old oil lantern sitting on an old, dented, metal barrel who's color had long since faded to gray.

Horrified, Tsuna spun around on the spot, taking in the sights with wide open eyes.

Shaking, she turned towards the kid whom was standing next to the lantern, studying the two of them wearily.

"You live here?" she asked him, not surprised to find her voice breaking.

Dutifully, Lambo nodded in answer.

Having followed Tsuna's example, Gokudera had too looked around the room, only his eyes had fallen on something littering behind a wooden crate.

Settling the paper bags on the ground next to a wall, he walked over, peering over the crate with an expectant frown on his face.

Wallets.

Hundreds of them thrown haphazardly into a miniature mountain.

Sitting down in front of it, he didn't have to ruffle through it for too long before his fingers closed around a familiar piece of blood-red leather.

His wallet.

Flipping it open, he could still find his cards, his ID, his personal pictures including the one Juudaime had insisted on the two of them taking during one of the times they met when she was out shopping. But no money.

Nothing was missing, except for the money.

This shouldn't have angered him as much as it should have, but this only proved that someone had gone though his wallet. One of the two few things he felt was absolutely personal.

Growling, he could no longer contain his anger as he spun around and stormed straight up to Lambo, grabbing him roughly by the shirt as he shoved the wallet up in his face.

"Why do you steal from people?" he demanded, eyes narrowed.

For a second, Lambo appeared to be confused, then the expression changed into one expressing his disbelief that the answer wasn't obvious.

"How else should I get money for food?" he asked, bewildered.

Growling, the delinquent grabbed the kid's shirt with both his hands, lifting him up into the air, successfully pulling a distraught sound from his throat.

He shook him violently, having seemingly forgotten that Tsuna was still there, staring at the scene with wide eyes.

Quickly, Tsuna set her paper bag down by the door. Storming over to her friend as he kept shaking the little kid in the air.

Grabbing hold of his wrist, she locked her eyes with his olive-green ones as she manually lowered his arms. Once she felt the vibration indication the touch-down of Lambo's feet on the ground beneath them, she moved her hands to pry his fingers off of the kid's shirt.

She kept her eyes on Gokudera as the man growled and turned away from the two, hands coming up to furiously ruffle his hair in frustration.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna turned her attention back to Lambo, gently putting her hands on his shoulders as she turned him around towards her.

"You know." she spoke, getting down on her knees in front of him. "I just can't allow you to keep living like this."

For a moment, the kid looked absolutely terrified, his eyes widening dramatically as he tried to pull himself away from her hands. She didn't allow him.

It took a while before he calmed down enough to stop struggling.

"Then, where is Lambo-san supposed to live?" he asked, voice barely audible.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna mentally went over the option she had reached in her head. But, she really couldn't reach another conclusion that the kid could probably agree to.

"Would you like to stay at my place."

Two pairs of eyes widened comically at her words, Lambo stiffening under her hands.

"What?" his voice shook, eyes glistening as he looked at her.

"Juudaime..." Gokudera asked from her side, looking at her in absolute disbelief. "Do you realize what you're saying?" it was one thing to help a kid patch up his scrapes after having fallen on the ground, but to invite a street-kid to live with you?

She didn't even look at him. She kept her attention on the kid.

"Do you mean that?" he asked, voice trembling as a small tear slid down his cheek.

Smiling, she nodded in affirmation, bringing up her hand to brush her thumb against his cheek, weaving her fingers into his curls as she wiped the tear away, wiping away a smudge of dirt as she did so.

"What do you think?" she asked softly.

For a moment, Lambo said nothing. Then, his gaze fell to the ground.

"Can Lambo-san really...?" he whispered, his hands fumbling with the hem of his shirt.

Still smiling, Tsuna nodded once again.

It took a moment, then, Lambo raised his eyes to her.

"Okay."

"Juudaime." Gokudera spoke up again, having studied the room for a moment. "This really isn't a good idea." he insisted. The only reaction he got was the same stubborn expression she had given him before they went there.

He couldn't help the groan that left his lips.

Looking around again, he spots a small, dirtied and torn dark green backpack sitting in the corner of the shelter.

Now normally, this wouldn't have caught his attention, but there was something vaguely visible on the front of the pack. Something that had most likely previously been brightly painted in white, but now, had faded away to the point where there was little change between the shades of green, but he could still see the marking in the dim light.

An insignia.

An insignia that he actually recognized.

It looked like a bulls head with the horns very much prominent in shape where they weren't in color.

Color drained the slightest from his face.

It was still a kid after all, he himself couldn't cause Juudaime too much pain.

Looking at him, Tsuna took Lambo into her arms.

"I don't care." she mumbled.

The kid needed her.

* * *

They had been walking for a good half hour.

Tsuna's one arm was wrapped around the paper bag, allowing it to rest on her hip as she walked, her free arm lay around the lightly trembling shoulders of the dirty boy walking next to her. His pack was strapped to his back, his own arms clutched around an old pillowcase tied together with a piece of shoestring.

What was inside the make-shift sack, Tsuna didn't know.

Gokudera walked a few feet behind them, arms clutched tighter than necessary around the both bags he had assigned to himself as he kept his eyes firmly pinned on the faded logo on Lambo's backpack. It was too faded for him to recognize exactly where he had seen it before or even what the logo stood for, but the sight of it sent a sense of terrible unease through his body.

Shaking his head, the delinquent quickened his steps, falling into pace as Tsuna's side.

Still trembling, Lambo raised his head up to look at Tsuna.

"Will your mother like Lambo-san?" he asked, his voice shaking as he appeared to force the words out of his throat.

Tsuna's arm stiffened in a comforting way around the kid's shoulders, tilting her head downwards to send him an equally comforting smile.

"She's going to adore you."

"How can you be so sure?" the kid asked, halting his steps and thus forcing his two companions to freeze up alongside him. Tsuna turned her entire body towards him, keeping her arm wrapped around his shoulder.

Her smile never left his face.

"Because I know my mother."

Thankfully, this was enough to get the kid to start walking again.

* * *

By the time they reached the Sawada household, Lambo was practically shaking out of his clothes at the nervousness he was presenting.

Every other step was taken after a great deal of hesitance on the kid's side until he conpletely stomped in front of the gates after Tsuna's gentle whisper that they were there.

His big eyes widened even further as he stared at the building, like he had never seen anything quite like it before.

Slowly, he turned his head towards Tsuna, meeting her expectant eyes.

"Do you really live here?" he asked quietly.

She smiled gently, giving him a nod.

It took some serious coaxing before they managed to get the kid in through the gates, even more to make him step in through the front doors, and when they did, the kid wound up frozen once again, eyes frantically moving around the room as he seemed eager to take in every single detail.

"That took a long time." Nana's voice sounded from the kitchen, making even Lambo's eyes freeze up, staring in a terrified manner at the open kitchen door.

Steps could be heard, indicating that Nana was walking towards them.

"What kept you?" Nana froze in the doorway, eyes locking on the short addition to Tsuna's small group.

Frightened, Lambo stepped in behind Tsuna, the majority of his body hidden behind the bag still resting on her hip. Half his face showed as he peered around the teenager, studying the woman that was still standing in the doorway.

Prying her eyes away from the kid, Nana looked at her daughter.

"Who is he?" she asked, keeping her voice leveled in consideration to the trembling hand visible on her daughter's waist.

Gently, Tsuna let her hand fall on the kid's shaking shoulder.

"Lambo Bocca." she answered with the same tone of voice as her mother. "He's been living in a bomb-shelter up till this point."

Nana's hand flew to her mouth, wide eyes locking on the kid's trembling frame.

From the stairs, Reborn almost soundlessly descended, his cold obsidian eyes falling on the kid as his feet hit the floor wood.

Tsuna felt Lambo's shaking cease up under her hand, completely freezing in place as he looked at her tutor. This reaction wouldn't have surprised her so much if she hadn't felt the almost overwhelming sense of recognition in the shudder that ran over his young skin.

She would have to deal with that later on though.

Shoulders shaking, eyes welling with tears, Nana removed her hand from her mouth, swallowing a couple of times as she allowed her shoulders to seize in their light shaking.

Clearing her throat, she straightened her back.

"And what..." she swallowed again, blinking away her tears. "Has he been doing up till this point to provide for himself?"

"Pickpocketing." was Gokudera's immediate answer, stepping out from behind Tsuna.

Tsuna snapped her head in his direction, giving him her best irritated look as she felt Lambo's shaking return to his shoulders.

A frown marred Nana's features, looking quite out of place on her normally smiling face.

Lambo's trembling intensified.

Nana's eyes pinned on the trembling figure standing behind her daughter. Her hands fell on her hips, showing off that stubborn streak her daughter so rarely revealed she'd inherited from her.

"We're gonna have to change that, won't we." her eyes and demeanor softened slightly as she noticed the scrapes littering his tanned skin. Letting her gaze travel downwards, the frown returned as she spotted the bandaged, bare feet he was standing on.

Eyes much kinder than before, Nana looked into Lambo's bright green eyes.

"Where are your shoes?" she asked.

A glance downward would show Lambo flexing his toes, but no one were at that very moment.

"Lambo-san..." his young voice broke for a second before he could keep going. "Lambo-san's shoes fell apart a few weeks back." his arms tightened around the bag, making the eyes turn towards the lace keeping it together.

Sighing, Nana shook her head once more.

"We're gonna have to change that too." she took a few steps forward, bending over as she held out her hand towards the kid's quivering frame. "Come with me." she said with a smile. "We have to get you cleaned up."

Stepping out from behind Tsuna, just a little bit, Lambo looked up at her with worry plain in his face.

She smiled, stroke him over the hair, and nodded once in encouragement.

Hesitantly, Lambo fully stepped out from behind the human shield he had created for himself, carefully placing his trembling hand in Nana's. He still refured to look at her though.

Starting off towards the bathroom doors, Nana turned her head back towards the teens still standing practically standing in the doorway.

"You put those groceries in the kitchen."

She vanished, along with the kid, behind the bathroom door.

Tsuna let out a sigh, silently pleased with how the situation had played out.

Moving the bag so that both of her arms circled it, she dutifully walked into the kitchen, closely followed by her tutor and best friend.

She knew Reborn had questions, but she wanted her hands free before she could deal with them.

"What happened?" Reborn asked once Tsuna had allowed her bag to fall onto the counter, Gokudera's two following closely.

"The kid was chased by a thug." Gokudera answered for her as she started digging for the perishabled. "Most likely picked his pocket and got found out." he his back against the counter, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Nodding, Reborn turned towards his student.

"What did you get from him?" he asked after a moment of silence.

Putting down a carton of eggs, Tsuna turned towards Reborn, ready to answer when Gokudera decided to deliver the one point of her observation that he most likely believed was the most important one.

"Juudaime said he was active."

Intrigued, Reborn raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed he is." he agreed, obsidian eyes turning towards Tsuna. She didn't know how but she got the feeling that he was a bit shocked with her conclusion. "And how did you come to this conclusion?"

Biting her lip, Tsuna let out a long breath as she absentmindedly treated an itch at the back of her wrist. Everything about this day had been strange in her eyes.

"I could feel it." she answered in a low voice, not looking at either man.

"Interesting..." Reborn hummed, and she could just see him adding that little factor to their future training sessions. The part of the training that would be more or less a gigantic experiment in stead of proven functioning methods. The man finally raised his hand, gesturing towards Tsuna. "Continue."

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna gathered the words together in her mind.

"He felt… deceived." she exhaled, brushing a hair behind her ear. "Like… he'd been so badly played by someone he trusted that he doesn't know whom to trust anymore." her voice grew more and more heavy with each syllable uttered.

The two men watched her as she spoke, taking in the emotional tool she put herself under.

"I also got this strong sense of helplessness." she continued, desperately trying to ignore the feel of their observing gazes. "Along with an equally strong need to survive." she finally dared to look at her tutor. "He's a mistrusting kid with a high level of determination." she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "There really is no wonder his core activated."

Reborn nodded at her words, leaning against the wall as he crossed his arms, his eyes shadowing over in thought.

She had become quite skilled in her judge of character over his stay in the house.

It had been good to begin with, but he had ensured that it became better.

Once every day, he would show her a picture of a person he knew and tell her to inform him of everything she could tell about the persons character.

Of course, because it was just a picture, she could never actually tell everything, but what she was able to tell, was always very accurate, if not spot-on.

Opening his ear to the teens in front of him, he caught onto the first real argument he had ever heard transpire between the two of them.

"I'm still not over you having a gun." Tsuna voiced her disbelief as she turned towards her friend.

Gokudera took a deep breath before he made himself face her, trying to make his face as indifferent as possible, which was tough work considering the situation.

"It's for protection." he insisted, leaning one hand on the counter as he made a point to hunch over his back in order to make himself not tower over her all too much.

An irritated groan tore its way through Tsuna's throat.

"You know how I feel about guns!" she almost yelled, throwing a hand up in between them.

"Mine will never, ever, be pointed at you." Gokudera promised sincerily.

Tsuna only groaned.

"For some reason, that does not make me more comfortable!"

Reborn sighed heavily.

He seemed to have been doing that a lot as of late, but what could you do when dealing with teenagers?

"Alright." the tutor finally breathed. "I'll leave the kid alone."

"Reborn-san!" Gokudera exclaimed, snapping his head in the other man's direction, obviously no pleased with the decision the man had reached. His olive eyes glanced in Tsuna's direction, noticing how she had turned away from the men, returning her attention to the paper bags.

"Gokudera." Reborn's voice held a scolding tone to it, making the delinquent turn his head turn to the floor with just the one word. "The two women in this household have obviously taken a liking to the kid." he glanced at Tsuna's back. "What right do we have to go against the will of a woman?"

Both members of the male gender looked at Tsuna, checking to see if she would react, but it looked as though she had completely shut off her ears to them.

Perfect.

Taking a few steps towards the living room, Reborn motioned for Gokudera to follow him.

Once in there, Reborn pulled the large sliding doors connecting to the kitchen shut, and turned towards the delinquent.

"You saw it too, didn't you?" Gokudera asked, referring to the strange symbol on the kid's bag.

Reborn nodded slowly.

"Yes, I did." the tutor crossed his arms over his chest. "And if Tsuna is right, the kid must be feeling nothing less than dead inside." he glanced towards the sliding doors in the direction he knew Tsuna was still located in. "Nothing is worse than being deceived by family."

Gokudera brought up his hand, ruffling the hair at the side of his head.

He pinned Reborn with a worried look.

"Will they come looking for him?"

Reborn closed his eyes for a brief moment, looking as though he was thinking.

"Even if they did, they would have no claim on the kid." he finally answered, pinning Gokudera with a meaningful look. "A deceived member is well within his rights to leave."

* * *

The light was dimming outside her window later that night as Tsuna sat calmly on the side of her bed, Lambo's back resting against her legs as she gently ran a hairbrush through his black curls.

She was surprised at how silky it was.

The poor kid had spent a good three hours in the baths with Nana, furiously scrubbing away at the dirt and dried sweat clinging to his skin. His hair had taken about twice as long as that.

Now, when cleaned, Tsuna could see his surprisingly pale complexion, as well as the freckles lining his cheeks.

Nana had managed to find one of her husbands old pj shirts for the kid to wear. She would take him shopping the next day for new clothes and shoes so the over-sized garment would have to do.

She had to roll up the sleeves several times before the kid could stick his hands through the opening and the shirt reached well over his knees, but Tsuna got the feeling that the kid appreciated the clean shirt either way.

They had been sitting in silence for about five minutes before Tsuna finally deemed the kid calm enough to start asking questions.

"Lambo." she spoke up, keeping her voice calm.

The kid turned his head slightly to show he was listening.

"Did you live in Italy before?"

His shoulders stiffen, but she didn't get the sense of apprehension from him. Just sadness.

She didn't like that.

"Lambo-san did..." the kid answered after a moment's silence. "Three years ago."

This brought a frown to Tsuna's face.

"What made you leave?"

It took some time before Lambo found it in his to answer.

"One of Lambo-san's brothers told Lambo-san to find and kill a man." his voice had been so quiet that Tsuna had to strain her ear to hear him. And when she did, she wished she hadn't.

Her brush froze mid-stroke through the silky curls.

"W-why would your brother tell you that?" she asked, unable to stop the shocked stutter.

"Lambo-san don't know." to Tsuna, it sounded as though the boy was just barely keeping himself from stuttering. "He... he said Lambo-san would become a powerful man if he did." a sob raked through his throat. "That everyone would love Lambo-san." he was definitely sobbing now, it the shaking of his shoulders was anything to go by.

Tsuna could feel a distinct ache inside of her, as though a cold hand had grasped her tightly by the heart, attempting to yank it out of her chest.

How could anyone, let alone a family member, say something so horrible!?

Lambo brought a hand up to wipe at his face with the back of it, his shoulders still shaking.

"Lambo-san..." a sniffle cut through his voice before he could continue, and it took a few more before he could push on anyway. "Lambo-san... has lived a nightmare for three years."

Tsuna could see that without him saying anything.

The evidence was all over his pale skin.

Jagged scars littered his shoulders, arms, legs, anywhere the shirt didn't cover really, she could have sworn that she saw cigarette burns on the soles of his feet, and at the back of his neck, she could see the beginnings of a bright red scar running along his spine, following his veins.

She recognized that kind of scar...

She didn't want to think about it, it was too horrible.

Having noticed her silence, Lambo looked at her over his shoulder.

Tsuna could see the wet traces over his cheeks, his big electric green eyes lined with red.

"Lambo-san did what he needed to survive." he insisted, his voice holding a tinge of fear as he watched her.

Was he afraid she was going to throw him out?

Smiling gently, Tsuna put her hands on either side of Lambo's head, turning it back around before she resumed the movements of the brush, gently running her fingers through the curls as they bounced back towards his skull.

"You're lucky then." she said kindly, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

The large eyes turned towards her again, those bright green eyes filled with confusion. They only made Tsuna smile all the more.

"You're lucky we found you." she affectionately brushed a curl from his eyes, still smiling.

Slowly but surely, Lambo started to smile back.

"Lambo-san thinks he was."

* * *

For the entirety of the conversation, neither of the two knew that they had a spectator.

Behind the slightly open door, Reborn peered in through the crack, observing the two with utmost interest.

It wasn't that he was suspicious of the kid, he could see it just like Tsuna had that the kid was just that, a kid that has been through a traumatic experience. Tsuna, a girl that has herself been through several traumatic situations throughout her life, sound clearly see the signs and knew how hard it was to live with such burdens.

She probably thought that she had some sort of obligation to help the kid through his troubles, given her overly accepting nature.

Deciding that he's had enough of their conversation, Reborn removed himself from the door, taking a few steps down into the corridor as his mind whirled.

An eight year old kid gone for three years after his own siblings set him up for an impossible mission... why did this situation ring such a loud bell in his head?

Mind still pondering, he fished his phone out of his pocket.

With but one number pressed, he put the device to his ear, waiting patiently as she beeps sounded into his skull.

Finally, someone picked up.

"Put Dino on." a brief moment of silence. A smirk playing on Reborn's lips as he stuffed his free hand into his pocket. "It's his tutor."

* * *

 **A/N: Aaaaannnd, I'm ending it there.**

 **I'm just realizing that I may be just a tad bit more evil in my writing than what I have believed myself to be. But I guess I should have caught on when I litterally made the maid character of my first finnished writing project braindead at the end of the book…**

 **Anyways… please tell me what you think, ANYTHING. Ever if it is negative, tell me EVERYTHING, whatever you have on your mind and feel like I should know.**

 **A writer can only become better through feedback, and I wish for this story to be as good as it possibly can. Not for my sake, but for the writers.**

 **Love.**

 **Me.**


	18. Target 18

**A/N: OMG! You are beautiful, lovely, beautiful humans!**

 **300 wonderful reviews. I just can't even…**

 **Okay, here's the next installment to the story. I really home you like it.**

 **Please.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 18:**

 **The consequence of Quick Conclusion**

One would believe that the life with an 8 year old in the house would be pretty hectic in a household with two females and a frequently visiting young delinquent. But what Tsuna and her mother quickly discovered just the next day was that… Lambo was too out-of-place in the house to do much of anything other than move around in a robotic manner and keeping his mouth shut.

Seeing as he hadn't been with them for that long, the two women decided not to do anything about it, but wait and see it it actually stuck.

They had spoken with child services not long after they had taken Lambo in, and they had said that they would be coming over once every week to monitor the kid's environment.

Lambo had been given Tsuna's old nursery, the room she had grown out of by the time she had turned ten. She and Lambo had spent more than an hour of his first day in the house inside of this room, re-painting the walls from the light orange color they had been in before.

And no, Tsuna had actually not been the one to pick the color.

Lambo had chosen from her collection of wall paint, picking out a vibrant green color along with black and white. Then, they had spent that hour in his room covering the walls with white pain, allowing it to dry before the fun had begun.

With the help of Tsuna and Gokudera, Lambo had covered the walls in green and black hand and footprints, some even ending up on the floor.

That had been the first time the household had heard him laughing.

* * *

Friday was the day they finally finished decorating the room.

Having somehow managed to snare Reborn into helping them, the group of three had managed to put together a loft bed that they had found in the attic. A bed that Tsuna honestly couldn't remember, but Nana had explained that they had bought her that bed only for her to be scared of using it so they bought another one, keeping the loft bed in case she would ever want to use it later on in life.

That never happened.

It was breakfast that Nana brought up the subject of shopping for Lamo. The kid had only survived on old clothes belonging to her husband that he had left behind and they didn't own any boy toys or shoes. And so, a shopping trip would be required.

Originally, Nana and Tsuna had planned to take Lambo to the shopping district, but their plans were foiled when a knock sounded from the door.

"Is Tsuna-chan home?" Sasagawa Kyoko asked Nana once the door was opened.

Stepping out from behind Nana, Tsuna's eyes widened at the sight of her classmate.

"Kyoko-chan?" she exclaimed before she really could stop herself.

"This is a friend of your Tsuna-chan?" Nana asked, eyes wide as she shifted her gaze from her daughter to the girl standing in her doorway.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna held out a hand towards Kyoko, her head turned towards her mother.

"Mom, this is Sasagawa Kyoko, a classmate of mine." she said, unconsciously refusing to say the word "friend when addressing anyone other than Gokudera.

She didn't know she was doing it. It was just that she had gotten so used to being around Gokudera that it ort of came naturally. She knew Gokudera's personality, and so, she had allowed him to see the personality that she had come to hide from everyone that didn't know her.

Noticing this, Kyoko turned her attention to Nana with a smile.

"I'm also her friend." she filled in, surprising Tsuna but was pleased when she didn't say anything against it.

For a moment, Nana just looked between the two girls.

"Oh lovely!" She burst out, almost scaring the two girls out of their skin, a bright smile on her face as she looked at Kyoko. "I had started to believe my daughter would only get male friends." these words caused the blood to rush to Tsuna's face.

It wasn't her fault that she somehow felt it easier to connect with males than females.

She had realized this as the term started to come to an end. Whenever girls would try to talk to her about female things such as boys or make-up or anything really, she had felt completely left out and didn't know what to do, but she could converse with the boys just fine.

She was by no means a tomboy, she despised sports and wore anything that existed in her closet, but she was definitely feminine in a lot of things. If only she knew she had been friends with males in the past, then it would have made a lot more sense that she'd have an easier time connecting with the male gender, but even if she couldn't remember having any. Then again, there was that three year gap in her memory…

"Tsuna-chan." Kyoko suddenly spoke up, snapping Tsuna out of her thoughts. Turning her head, she found the other girl smiling at her. "I was wondering if the two of us could go out today."

Tsuna's eyes flashed in her mother's direction.

"Today?" she asked, feeling the nervousness building up inside of her.

Kyoko's face fell at the tone of her voice.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, her hands wringing in worry in front of her.

Tsuna was aware that Gokudera had a tendency to refer to her as an angel, but she couldn't help but to think that if he was right, Kyoko would be a goddess.

"No." Tsuna quickly answered, trying to soothe the other girl's worries. "It's just… Mom and I were just going to go shopping." she suddenly noticed the little shape standing in the doorway, half his body hidden from view as he studied the young woman Tsuna and her mother were talking to.

With a light, laughing breath, Tsuna held out her hand.

"Lambo." she called out, cautching the 8 year old's attention. "Lambo, this is Kyoko-chan." she jerked her head towards Kyoko, whom looked shocked at Lambo's presence.

"Kyoko-chan," Tsuna spoke as she pulled the kid up in front of her, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "This is Lambo." she shared a look with her mother. "Mom and I just took him in a few days ago, and he's in need of a few things."

For a second, Kyoko didn't say anything, then...

"Oh my god." she whispered, crouching down in front of the boy with an expression as though she was in a trance. Then, her face broke into a wide smile. "You're just too cute."

Tsuna watched as Lambo's face flared up in color, his hands fiddling with the fabric of his shirt as he absolutely refused to look at Kyoko's smiling face.

"Lambo-san's not cute." he mumbled through pouting lips.

Kyoko just smiled, this time in a much gentler manner.

"Of course you're not." she agreed after a slow shake of the head. Reaching out a hand to ruffle his jet-black curls. "You're such a handsome boy." she giggled before standing back up.

She looked between Lambo and Tsuna, and then, her face broke into that same wide smile, her hand coming up to clasp in front of her chest.

"I know!" both Lambo and Tsuna flinched at her sudden exclamation. "Why don't you and I go with Lambo Tsuna-chan!"

Tsuna and Lambo just stared at her, but Nana apparently had other ideas.

"What a great idea!" the woman giggled, her own hands clapping together in excitement.

Tsuna frowned lightly at the woman who birthed her in confusion.

"You alright with that Mom?"

"Of course I am." Nana spoke as though she though the question was stupid, then she smiled again encouragingly. "You two go, buy some things for yourself as well Tsuna-chan." she made a waving motion with her hand towards the door. "Go have fun."

Shaking her head at her mother's behavior, Tsuna turned back towards Kyoko.

"I guess it's decided then." Kyoko smiled widely at her words.

It didn't take long for the small group to get ready. Tsuna received a rather large bundle of money from their "special occasion" savings and put their shoes on.

That was when she noticed Lambo nervously grappling with the edge of his borrowed T-shirt.

Smiling lightly, she put her hands on his shoulders, crouching down in front of him.

"It'll be okay Lambo, I'll be with you the whole way." she insisted, looking him right in the eye.

The eight year old threw a cautious glance out the door where Kyoko was still waiting for them, and finally, his hands loosened around the fabric of the shirt.

"Okay..." he breathed, looking back at Tsuna.

Still smiling, Tsuna rose from the ground.

Holding out her hand, she waited for Lambo to take it before they left the house.

* * *

It was actually fun being out with the kid.

Of course, the first stop they made was the shoe shop. The kid had picked out several pairs of shoes that he had liked on sight, allowing the girls to pick a few as well. He had spent a good half hour trying out the different sneakers, sandals and formal shoes before he had decided on five pairs that they actually bought.

They visited multiple clothes shops, not just for Lambo but for the girls as well. Piling up the amount of bags hanging from their arms, they decided their last stop would be the toy stop.

They had let Lambo run around along the isles, themselves waiting by the check-out as the kid went. They simply didn't have the muscle for all the boxes and bags.

They had shared a glance when Lambo had returned, arms full of things such as helicopters, toy cars and even a train. There was also packets of lego's and other large boxes of toys.

Of course, Tsuna's family was anything but poor, they had just decided to live in that modest household because Nana hadn't wanted a bigger house to clean and she had refused to hire house help because she'd wanted to do everything on her own.

But how were they supposed to carry everything home?

That was the general thought as they sat at a nearby cafe for Lunch.

"How are we going to do this?" Kyoko asked, glancing at the mountain of bags and boxes over the sandwich she had bought.

Tsuna shook her head, having no idea herself.

She couldn't call Gokudera, and even if she could, she didn't want to use their friendship like that.

The young delinquent had left the town just that morning, surprising Tsuna that he had bought a pass for a geeks convention.

Who would have known Gokudera of all people had a thing for aliens?

Of course, she didn't judge him for this, but it did in some way explain his intellect.

Checking the time on her phone, Kyoko's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Onii-chan's out running!" she happily exclaimed.

Tsuna, felt her eyes widen at the words.

Kyoko had an older brother?

Quickly, Kyoko called a number, pressing the device to her ear, and waited.

To Tsuna's further surprise, it only took a few seconds before Kyoko's face lit up even further, and she haffily answered whomever had picked up on the other end.

How fast reflexes did this person have?

"Onii-chan!" she laughed. Tsuna noticed how her finger flexed over the volume button. "Do you think you could come and help me and my friend with out shopping bags?" after a moment of silence, it seemed like her face brightened ever further. "Thank you." her eyes shut at her pleased expression. "We're sitting in front of "SunLight cafe", come when you can." and with that, she hung up.

Tsuna had expected to wait at the very least ten minutes for the arrival of the mystery brother. But for the third time that day, she was surprised when, six minutes later, she spotted a running figure at the end of the street.

Kyoko's brother looked almost nothing like her.

He appeared to be about Gokudera's height, but unlike Gokudera whom had a lean swimmers figure and a pale complexion, the man standing in front of her had the body of a boxer, ripped, his skin was tanned and his hair was even lighter in color than Gokudera's, close to white, not to mention, he had a small scar cutting through his left eyebrow.

He was rugged, but handsome. Ruggedly handsome.

Tsuna found her fingers just itching to paint his portrait. It would serve as a good contrast to the one she had already made of Gokudera.

He gave a bright smile to Kyoko before turning towards Tsuna, revealing his eye color to be gray, which puzzled Tsuna as Kyoko's own eyes were amber in color.

"You're not Kurokawa." the man stated, almost looking disappointed at the fact. His voice was deep, baritone, and hoarse, almost as though he had done a lot of screaming in his youth and his vocal cords had never properly healed.

"No…" Tsuna breathed, feeling Lambo hiding behind her body. "I'm not."

Thankfully for Tsuna, Kyoko decided to intervene.

"Onii-chan." she spoke up, making her brother turn back towards her. "This is my friend Sawada Tsunako." she motioned with her hand in Tsuna's direction. "Tsuna-chan, this is my older brother Sasagawa Ryohei."

"Sawada?" Ryohei asked, looking back at Tsuna. This time, his gray eyes held a studying look to them as he took in Tsuna's appearance.

Then, his face split into a wide grin.

The look actually threw Tsuna off. It was so open, so pure, and his oh so obviously active core almost knocked her off balance. She didn't even need to reach out to him, he did that himself, she didn't need to focus her flames into her eyes to see the aura of yellow that surrounded the man in front of her.

She blinked.

This guy…. Should he learn to access his core, he would learn that he had a larger one than she did, and the touch of anyone having that much untapped potential… frightened her.

"You're the girl that saved my sister." Ryohei said with realization, sounding as though he was just barely keeping himself from screaming. He walked right up to her, laying one hand on her shoulder. "I never got the chance to thank you for that."

Shaking her head, Tsuna brushed a hair behind her ear as she turned her gaze away from the man.

"It was nothing." she spoke in nearly a whisper. "Mochida had it coming."

The hand on her shoulder tightened, making her look back into the man's eyes.

"It's not nothing." Ryohei insisted, sounding very much serious.

Tsuna felt herself, at a loss for words.

This guy, seriously, honestly, cared for his sister.

Suddenly, the feeling of fingers tightening around the fabric of her shirt reminded Tsuna of the presence of the eight year old.

"Oh." She gently pushed the boy in front of her. "This is my surrogate brother Lambo." she felt the boy's shoulders relaxing under her hands, this made her smile.

Ryohei looked between the two of them before he quickly crouched down in front of the eight year old, smiling brightly.

"Hey there." he greeted energetically, making the boy back away right into Tsuna's body. This, thankfully, didn't seem to bother Ryohei too much. In stead, he gently punched Lambo on the shoulder. "You look like a strong young man."

Lambo's eyes widened at the kind words.

Smiling a little bit brigter, Ryohei threw a pointed glance up at Tsuna.

"I've heard you've got an awesome older sister there."

Tsuna felt some blood rushing into her cheeks when she watched Lambo give Ryohei a shy, affirmative nod.

Ryohei laughed wholeheartedly, reaching up a hand to ruffle the dark curls.

Who would have known someone with his looks could be so good with kids?

Then again, he did have experience dealing with younger kids, having a younger sister and all.

"So." he suddenly said, standing up from the ground. "Where are the bags you were talking about?" he asked, his attention turned back towards his sister.

A bit self-cautious, Kyoko pointed towards the mountain they had created.

For a second, Tsuna feared that Ryohei would want to back out of helping them.

In stead, his face lit up into a bright grin.

"Perfect!"

* * *

Ryohei had taken more bags than was strictly necessary. Leaving the two girls with only a few of their own bags hanging from their arms, and Lambo carrying two boxes of shoes in his arms.

Ryohei looked like a radiant sun with all the bags hanging from his arms, boxes piled high in his arms, and still, he wasn't breaking a sweat.

Before Tsuna knew it, they were walking past a familiar sushi shop.

Just as they did, the hangings were moved aside by an arm, an arm encased in a signed cast.

The group stopped as Yamamoto stepped out, his healthy arm carrying a sign that he expertly placed on the ground. They couldn't read the sign from where they were standing.

Apparently, Yamamoto would have turned back inside, but as he turned, his eyes locked onto the group standing just a few feet away from him.

His eyes widened in surprise, then the corner of his lip curled into a small smile.

"Yo, Tsuna." he greeted, moving towards them. "Sasagawa-san." he nodded towards Kyoko, who smiled back at him. "Sasagawa-sempai."

"Yo!" Ryohei greeted back, even more enthusiastically.

Tsuna didn't bother asking how Yamamoto knew who the man was, with his reputation in school, she wouldn't be surprised if she knew every single person under the school rooftop.

Yamamoto looked over the group, his brow furrowing in confusion as he noticed the eight year old looking as though he wanted to move behind Tsuna.

"Who's this little fella?" he asked, gesturing to Lambo with his healthy arm.

Tsuna smiled down at the kid, jerking her head towards Yamamoto with an encouraging smile.

Lambo took a deep breath, raising his head to properly look at the athlete.

"Lambo-san is Tsuna-nee-chan's new brother." he stated, sounding very proud of what he was saying.

Slightly bewildered, Yamamoto looked between the two before his eyes softened.

He reached out his hand, putting it on top of the kid's head and ruffling his hair.

Who could blame him really, his curls simply begged to be ruffled.

"Good for you." the althlete stated, throwing a hidden glance hin Tsuna's direction.

Smiling at Lambo, Tsuna's eyes wandered over to the cast still surrounding the athlete's wrist.

"How's your arm?" she asked, glancing up at the taller teenager.

Hazel eyes snapped towards the cast, although his gaze didn't hold as much resentment as they would have a few weeks prior. In fact, his whole demeanor had lightened considerably since the last time she had seen him.

"I was at the hospital just yesterday." he said, looking up at her, his eyes glittering with joy. "I will be ready to have the cast removed in just three weeks." a wide smile of absolute joy at the news spread across his face.

The first real one she had seen in a long, long time.

Overwhelmed by his joy at the news, Tsuna allowed her bags to fall to the ground before she reached out, allowing her arms to wrap around his solid shoulders.

For a split second, Yamamoto stood shocked, then, a gentle smile spread across his lips, his arms rising to wrap around her body to return her joy.

"I'm so happy for you." she said, patting him on the back before she stepped away.

They didn't spend much more time in front of the shop, their bags starting to dig into their arms and so, the group of four left the recovering athlete, continuing down the road home.

* * *

Some time later, they finally reached Tsuna's house.

Swiftly, Ryohei unloaded the bags containing Tsuna, and Lambo's things, leaving himself with Kyoko's bags. Which, was actually quite a few compared to the ones Tsuna had bought for herself. But then again, Tsuna felt that she didn't need new things.

Once everything was inside, the siblings big Tsuna goodbye with a smile, and went on their way.

Nana approached her daughter where she was still standing with Lambo, watching the siblings disappear down the street.

"Ne, who was that boy?" the woman eagerly asked.

Tsuna couldn't help the heavy sigh that escaped her lips.

"He's Kyoko's older brother." she said, giving her mother a pointed look.

A look of disappointment spread across Nana's face, her back straightening out as she stared at the retreating figured, a hand against her cheek.

"What a shame." Nana breathed. "I thought he was another one of your boyfriends."

Tsuna's eyes shot wide open.

"I don't even have the one." she said shaking her head. "I'm not going to have a harem Mom, no matter how much you may want me to have one."

A confused frown made it's way to Lambo's face.

"What's a harem."

The two women stared wide eyes at the boy.

Clearing her throat, Tsuna lowered herself to Lambo's level.

"I'll tell you when you're older."

* * *

That Monday, Tsuna had been sitting on her coffee table, focusing the flow of her inner flames into the tips of her fingers where she held her hands out in front of her face, watching as her skin turned lightly red from the pressure of the flames under her skin.

It was interesting to watch to say the least.

Reborn had informed her that he would put off Lambo's own control training until she had moved onto the next step in her training. Seeing as his training would be different than her own.

She had just been ordered to let the flames fade away when there was a knock on the door.

Hiding her hands behind her back, Tsuna allowed her mother to enter.

Tsuna's eyebrows fell into a small frown at the piece of paper lodged in Nana's hand.

"I'm sorry Tsuna-chan." Nana apologized, face showing just how self-conscious she was feeling at that moment. "But I have to ask you to go out shopping again."

This brought a frown to Tsuna's face.

"Gokudera-kun and I bought three bags not even a week ago." she said as she got up from the table, her fingertips no longer feeling hot. They just itched something terrible.

"I know." Nana answered, holding out the list. "But we're feeding one more mouth than I had accounted for when I made that list."

Their eyes turned towards the kid that had crept up behind Nana, staring at the two of them, dressed in his own clothes.

Sighing heavily, Tsuna plucked the paper from her mother's fingers, walking out around her as she exited her room. She glanced down at the list, leaving one ear open to the smaller steps that followed closely behind her.

"Lambo-san is going with you."

Tsuna turned around at the sound of the voice, seeing Lambo looking up at her with a determined look in his eyes.

Tsuna felt herself smiling at him.

"Thank you Lambo." she said, holding out a hand for the kid.

Putting on their shoes, the two were soon out the door.

To Tsuna's shock, there was already someone standing at the gates, dressed in a black tank-top and dark blue torn jeans with chains hanging from the belt-loops.

A wide smile spread across her lips.

"Gokudera-kun!" she greeted, jogging up to the gates. "When did you come back?"

The delinquent smiled back after his brief moment of shock. He opened the gate for her as she got closer, stepping to the side.

"Just a few hours ago." he answered. "I wanted to tell you in person."

He was shoved into a second moment of shock as Tsuna didn't come to a stop a few steps away from him, but in stead continued straight at him, throwing her arms around his shoulders and she happily laughed:

"I'm glad you did."

For a moment, Gokudera just stood there, eyes wide open in shock. Then, his features slowly relaxed as he allowed his arms to move around her thin frame, gently hugging her back.

Tsuna got the feeling that the man hadn't been hugged in a long, long time, and that saddened her a great deal.

"Lambo-san thought Aho-dera would never come back." Lambo suddenly spoke up, making the two teens turn towards him.

The kid was smiling playfully at the two of them.

Halfheartedly growling, Gokudera's arms fell from Tsuna's body, leaving her side to sett off towards the 8 year old. The kid in question immediately broke into a run, sprinting around the yard all the while laughing at the top of his lungs.

Eventually, Gokudera caught the boy, holding him in place as he pressed his knuckles against the top of his head, violently ruffling up his curls.

Lambo just continued laughing through Gokudera's own chuckled growls.

To be perfectly honest, the relationship that had developed between the two boys had surprised Tsuna. With Gokudera's character, she had fully expected him to hate Lambo, and that would in turn make Lambo hate Gokudera, but just the second day they had known the kid, whilst painting his walls, the two had began developing a relationship that she could do nothing but compare to the relationship of a boy and his older brother.

She could always find some form of humor in watching the two of them interact.

After a moment, Gokudera finally let go of a furiously giggling Lambo, turning his attention back to Tsuna, whom had taken to leaning against the gatepost.

"Where are the two of you going?" he asked, glancing between the two.

"Tsuna-nee-chan and Lambo-san are going grocery shopping." Lambo answered in Tsuna's stead, back straight and his hands on his hips as he looked at the teens.

Gokudera nodded in understanding, turning towards Tsuna.

"I'll go with you." he said, leaving no room for arguments.

Tsuna just smiled back at him.

"That would be very much appreciated." she held up the piece of paper she had been given by her mother. "If this is any indication, we'll need all the help we can get."

* * *

Lambo was regretting not going into the store with the teens.

He had chosen to play in the park before they went inside, thinking that it would be more fun out here than it would be in there. He also didn't want to get in the way of the two people that had picked him off the streets.

Only they were taking a lot longer than he had thought they would.

Having long since grown restless, Lambo decided to wait outside the shop doors, pacing back and forth, finding humor in watching them automatically slide open and stopping them from fully closing by swiftly jumping in front of them once again.

He was just about to jump once again, when a voice called out to him.

"Little boy!"

Lambo turned and saw a girl jobbing towards him.

She was about as tall as Tsuna-nee-chan, with dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. A duffel-bag hung from her shoulder, she was dressed in jeans shorts and a light pink frilly top and wore white slip-on shoes on her feet.

However, she wasn't nearly as pretty as Tsuna-nee-chan.

Before long, the girl was right in front of him, crouching slightly to be more on the same level of his face. He noticed how her eyes were moving around them, seemingly searching for something.

"Are your parents inside?" she asked once her eyes finally returned to his. She wore a frown of disbelief. "What kind of parents leave their child alone outside the store?"

Lambo frowned.

Did she just assume he had been left against his will?

"Lambo-san doesn't have any parents." he spoke. "And Lambo-san was-" he simply wasn't allowed to speak any further.

"No parents!" the girl exclaimed, suddenly standing up, staring down at Lambo in utter horror.

She looked around again, this time a lot more hurriedly.

"Come with me." she said, leaching onto his arm with a grip that dug into his skin. "I must take you to the police station immediately." and with that, she started to drag him away from the store.

Or, at least she tried to.

Lambo would not go without a fight.

"Let go of me you bitch!" he screamed, scratching at the hand as he planted his feet firmly on the ground, absolutely refusing to move. Tsuna-nee-chan and Aho-dera were still inside, and so, he would not move from where he was standing.

"No chance." the girl said sternly, yanking on his arm painfully. "I need to take you to the station so you can go to the orphanage and get a new, happy family." she turned to give him a smile, but Lambo wouldn't have it.

He didn't need a "new happy family", he'd already gotten a new one.

He resorted to hitting her, and Lambo knew that he had pretty hard punches.

Finally, the girl let go of him.

"What's going on here?" a voice sounded from behind them, causing the two of them to turn around.

There stood the teens he had been waiting for, holding two bags each.

"I'm trying to get this boy to the station." the girl grumbled through the pain she was most likely feeling in her hand.

"Why would you want to take Lambo to the station." Tsuna asked, taking a step towards the two, her eyebrows turning downwards to form a light frown. It quickly faded when she looked at Lambo, her grip on one of the bags loosened, allowing the bag to fall into his arms.

He couldn't help but to smile back at her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Gokudera asked as he sat down his bags next to the store doors, storming over to the girl. "Who the hell grabs children like that when they don't know the-"

 **SLAP!**

Both Lambo and Tsuna flinched as Gokudera's head snapped to the side from the force of the girl's hand striking against his cheek. His skin already turning red.

"Who are you to swear in front of a child!" she screamed at him.

She glared at the delinquent for a moment before she turned her attention to Tsuna, Lambo having turned to hide behind his sister-figure.

"You and your boyfriend are horrible influences to your brother."

This did not sit well with Gokudera.

"Why you..." he muttered, raising his arm over the girl.

For sure, Lambo knew that Aho-dera would strike the girl, and he was scared the teenager would get in trouble for it.

Apparently, Tsuna-nee-chan thought along the same lines.

Quickly, Tsuna grabbed hold of his arm, making him turn towards her.

"It's not worth arguing with..." she glanced towards the girl from the corner of her eye. "Ignorants."

Following her line of vision, Gokudera gave her an agreeing nod.

Picking the bags back up, Gokudera turned to walk away, closely followed by Tsuna, whom, with a hand on Lambo's shoulder-blades led him away with her.

This did not seem to sit well with the girl.

"You are a hideous monster!" she screamed after them at the top of her lungs, no doubt causing a few heads to turn towards her. Not the retreating trio. "You and your boyfriend will rot in hell after you've met the most horrible end imaginable!" Lambo saw how Gokudera's shoulders stiffening, though whether that was due to the "meeting a horrible end" or the "boyfriend" part, he didn't know."You haven't seen the last of me!"

As the screams faded away, Lambo went up and grabbed Tsuna by the hand, looking up at her with wide eyes of adoration.

Even when faced with such hurtful words, she had remained calm. It had been as though the girl had been screaming those words at a brick wall with how much reaction she had gotten from the other girl. He wished he could have the same approach to the people being mean to _him_.

"Why did you let that girl go?" Gokudera asked when they could no longer hear the screams at all.

Tsuna let out a long sigh.

"Because if we didn't, you would just be proving her point." she gave the delinquent a meaningful look, momentarily stopping in her steps.

A smile spread across Gokudera's lips.

"Tsuna-nee-chan's so smart." Lambo praised, giving her hand a light squeeze.

Squeezing back, she smiled down at him before they kept on walking.

They should have known they were followed.

* * *

That Thursday, Tsuna found herself sitting on her coffee-table, her nerves in a fit as Reborn slowly circled her, his dark eyes pinned on her frame.

He was giving her the final test. The test which would clarify weather or not she was ready to move onto the next step in their training.

They had been training almost non-stop for the past couple of days, spending hours on end constantly going through the same steps she had been practicing since he had first arrived at her house, only this time, she had found each step to be a lot easier than ever.

And so, Reborn had felt that it was time for the final test.

Desperately calming herself down, she released a steady flow into her veins.

"Keep that going for five minutes." Reborn's voice sounded from somewhere around her, where, she didn't know as her eyes were closed. "No fluctuation."

That, they both knew she could already do, she could even go for ten minutes if she wished it, but she guessed it was for formality.

To say she succeeded in doing it, would be laughable.

"Focus your flames into the tips of your fingers." Reborn's voice sounded again.

This, was a bit trickier. As her flames were different that that of a normal person's, they tended to have more of a mind of their own, straining against her control more than they would do should Lambo have tried. However, after a few moments of coaxing the flames to turn within her veins, she felt the tips of her fingers heating up.

"Good." Reborn spoke up again. "Now hold that pressure for five minutes."

For a split second, Tsuna felt a flash of panic.

She could already feel the pressure fluctuating under her control, but of course, fluctuation was a given in this state seeing as they were flames gathered together at a certain point. She would just have to keep the pressure in her fingertips and keep the heat from setting fire to her pants.

Who was she kidding, that took serious concentration and a lot of pain-staking refusal to panic at the unusual heat her skin was under.

It may have become used to the feel of flames in her veins over the last couple of days, but not this amount of pressurized flame in one place.

Her only comforting through under these five minutes was that her fingers would never have to freeze during the winter again.

At one moment, she could feel the heat rising, but she quickly quelled it, hoping to god that that wouldn't affect her passing.

"Good." Reborn finally spoke, almost making Tsuna flinch at the suddenness of it. "There was a little slip at the end as I'm sure you are aware of, but it was minor and with a bit more training, you won't have to worry about that anymore." she almost didn't breathe as she allowed her hold on the flames to slip. "You've passed."

Tsuna groaned in releaf, breath heavy as she allowed the flames to fade away into nothingness, her eyes opening to see Reborn standing in front of her, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"You're ready to move on to level 3." Reborn spoke, making her look up at him. The pleased expression on his face was clear for anyone to see, and it made Tsuna feel slightly better even though she almost screwed everything up.

Letting out a long breath, Tsuna finally managed to collect her voice.

"What's 1 and 2?"

A light smirk played on Reborn's lips.

"Level one is being activated, which you have been for a long time." Tsuna felt herself frown, she herself had no idea how long she had been activated, but she had an idea that it had happened sometime during her coma. "Level 2 is actually controlling the activated core, which you have just reached."

"Then..." Tsuna breathed, not really knowing whether she really wanted to ask her question, but Reborn's raised eyebrow forced the question from her lips. "What's Level 3?"

A smirk spread across Reborn's lips.

"Physical materialization on command."

* * *

The next day, the four living under the roof were sitting at the kitchen table for dinner when there was a sudden knock on the door.

Sharing a confused look with her mother, Tsuna stood up from the table.

Opening the door, Tsuna was surprised to find the child service there.

"Can we help you?" she asked slowly. "Isn't inspections supposed to be on Fridays?"

"They are." one of the men said, carrying an apologetic look on their face. "It's just appears that we've received an anonymous tip that you aren't the best guardians for young Lambo." he glanced over towards Nana whom had just appeared in the kitchen doorway. "If you would allow us this one unexpected inspection, we can all continue with our days."

"Of course." Tsuna agreed, stepping out of the way of the door, allowing the workers to enter.

"Thank you." the man that spoke before nodded, giving her a light smile.

At the kitchen doors, Nana was absolutely horrified.

Who in the world could have accused her family of being bad for children?

Tsuna just crossed her arms, returning to the kitchen table. She had a good idea of who could have possibly made that call, and she couldn't say that she was entirely happy about it.

She could hear the bustling of feet as she sat back down.

On her right, Lambo had stiffened considerably.

"Why are _they_ here _now_?" he practically hissed, sinking into his chair.

Lambo had been terribly cautious of the child service ever since the first time they had arrived on their porch. The mere knowledge that they had the power to remove him from the family that had taken him in frightened him more than anything.

Nana was the one to answer him.

"Someone called them for a surprise inspection."

"Why would they do that?" Lambo asked, almost frantically. "Who would do that?"

Gently, Tsuna placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I think you know who."

For a good minute, Lambo was completely silent. Then, looking into Tsuna's eyes, he gave a firm nod.

Reborn watched this interaction in brief amusement.

He wasn't nearly as worried as the rest of them, and they weren't worried at all. The Sawada's were wonderful guardians, they all knew that. But should someone had planted anything inappropriate something to try and have Lambo removed from the house, he was just a call away from having the people that reached that conclusion disappear from the face of the earth.

Of course, that wasn't needed.

About an our later, after the workers had had a good look around and abruptly asked Lambo a few seconds, they packed up.

The one that had spoken to Tsuna earlier walked up to Nana, that same smile still on his face.

"We apologize for the inconvenience." he spoke kindly.

"No inconvenience." Nana answered. "What are you going to do about the caller?"

"We will make sure the caller knows about their wrong assumption about your househeold Ma'am." the man answered, giving the people around the table a small bow.

"Thank you." Nana smiled back at them.

With another nod, the workers moved out of the house.

As they went, Tsuna and Lambo shared a look as Reborn observed them.

* * *

She had been sitting on her bed, sketchbook folded out in her lap as she calmly drew out her new outfit design.

There was no point in thinking about that horrid girl or her boyfriend. The child service would surely find something horrible about that house and the cute little boy would be put into a much better home than whatever internal dump that house was.

She had followed them home from a distance that day and given the address to child services. No surprise, the address had already been in the records.

Who knows how many children they had removed from that horrible household?

Suddenly, her phone goes off from her nightstand.

A wide smile on her face, the girl practically threw the sketchbook away from her, attacking the phone, jamming it against her ear.

"Yes?" she asked hurriedly, eager to hear the news.

"This is child services." the woman on the other end. "Is this the caller who informed us about the Sawada household?"

"Yes." the girl answered immediately. She had chosen not to give up her name in case those horrible people decided to come after her.

"We have come to the conclusion that Nana Sawada and her daughter Tsunako are the ideal carer for the young boy living under their roof." the woman spoke, voice almost monotone as she delivered the news.

"What!" the girl exclaimed in outrage.

"Their house was found clean, in the most literal sense of the word, and the young boy in question appeared to absolutely love his two female guardians." the woman informed her, but the girl absolutely, positively, wouldn't have it.

"You people are horrible at your job!" she screamed into the receiver. "It is obvious that boy can't live there!"

For a moment, there was no sound from the other line.

"Miss, never call this number again."

Growling loudly, the girl hung up the phone, throwing it across the room.

Who cares if it broke, her parents could always buy her a new one.

"Whatever it takes..." she whispered under her breath. "Whatever it takes, I'm going to take that kid away from that house, if I so have to do it myself."

* * *

When Monday came round, Tsuna found herself sent out of the house once again. She was just thankful that it wasn't for groceries this time.

No. This time, Nana had sent her out because of the realization that there was a severe shortage in female necessities, seeing as the last time they had really needed to use them being a good month ago, and they had completely forgotten to replenish their stores.

And so, there she was, walking home with a plastic bag filled with womanly things hanging from her hand. She hadn't really thought much else would happen that day.

Obviously, she had been wrong.

She had felt the presence long before it had arrived, but that didn't mean that she was prepared for the impact to her back just seconds after she'd rounded the corner.

It had been so much of a shock that her grip on the bag vanished, sending it crashing to the ground, it's contents spilling out on the asphalt as Tsuna fought to regain her balance. Seeing the bag's contents out in the open, she couldn't help but to groan loudly.

Turning towards the person that had pushed her, Tsuna wasn't at all surprised when she found herself staring at the girl from a week ago.

"Oh, it's you." she breathed out in annoyance, brushing off the sleeves of her light-blue half-sleeved top. She then bend down to the ground, starting to gather up the objects that had spilled out on the ground, stuffing them back in the bag, all the while ignoring the girl that was still staring down at her back.

Obviously, this did not sit well with the girl.

"You are just a horrible person!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Hand prepared to drop of the last object into the bag, Tsuna felt herself freeze up at the accusation.

"Ruining a child's impressionable mind. Filling it with the thoughts of a delinquents." the girl's furious voice continued to scream, oblivious to the way the muscles in Tsuna's back relaxed under her words. "How can you do that to your brother?!"

Slowly, Tsuna rose up from the ground, bag clenched in her hand.

"Mark my words," the girl continued. "I'm going to make sure that he gets a safe place to live, somewhere you and your… _boyfriend_ , can never harm him again!"

That was the last straw.

Turning around towards the girl, Tsuna's face slipped into that familiar eerie calm that so many people had learned to back away from the past couple of weeks. Her eyes narrowed dangerously at the girl.

Rightfully so, the girl took a step backwards at the sight.

"Who are you to talk about Lambo's upbringing?" Tsuna asked, her voice deep and accusing as she took a step towards the girl."You don't know anything about him."

Taking a step backwards, the girl glared at Tsuna.

"I know that you are one horrible older sister for-"

"Lambo's not my brother." Tsuna cut the girl off, finally, _finally_ having had enough of her constantly running mouth.

The girl's eyes flew wide open.

"What?"

Tsuna took another step forward, the girl backing up in the process.

"We're not related." Tsuna verified, face blank of any emotion. "Me and my…. _Boyfriend_ , found him relying on pick-pocketing for an income and living in an old bomb shelter."

The girl's face turned white at the revelation, her mouth opening and closing to give her the general outlook of a fish. She took another step backwards when Tsuna closed in on her.

"I picked him off the streets where he didn't even have shoes, and you're trying to take him away from that?" Tsuna's eyes narrowed even further, even through the calm demeanor she carried, her rage practically radiated off of her in white-hot tendrils, making the girl stumble backwards even further until she collided with the wall of one of the houses.

"I… I-I didn't-" she tried to stammer, but Tsuna cut her off.

"No, you didn't." she agreed, taking a few more steps up towards the girl. "That is why we, as human beings, invented the marvelous thing called, Questions." she jammed a finger at the girl's chest. She couldn't show it, but she was quite surprised to find that she was actually just a few centimeters shorter than the girl, making it so that she didn't have to raise her head to look her in the eye.

Even if Tsuna was the shorter one, the girl was still very much terrified of her.

"I-I'm s-sorry." she tried, desperately hoping that it would make it better.

It didn't.

"No." Tsuna said, shaking her head. "It's too late for apologies." she stepped away from the girl, back straight and her eyes no longer narrowed quite as much, but she was still, very much, angered."Until you learn how to look at a situations without jumping onto the first half-assed conclusion that enters your head. You're not worthy of forgiveness."

And with that said, Tsuna turned on her heel and continued down the path the girl had so rudely pushed her towards, leaving said girl quivering against the building.

She looked down at the ground, her eyes welling up with tears at the thought of the accusation she had thrown at those two teens. No wonder the guy had blown up at her.

Judging by how Tsuna had said the word "boyfriend", she had probably been wrong about that too, and the delinquent was just a really loyal friend. That's two things she had made a conclusion about and been wrong.

Just how many other people had she hurt by not asking the right questions?

* * *

 **A/N: ALRIGHT!**

 **This, my gorgeous humans, was the last chapter before THINGS, actually start happening. Where SHIT goes down. The last couple of chapters before the end of this fanfic and this Arch of the story.**

 **Oooohh, just you wait till you see what I have planned for it.**

 **Please review and tell me ANYTHING you may have thought during the chapter, and I'll be back with another one as soon as I can.**

 **I CAN'T WAIT!**

 **Love.**

 **Me!**


	19. Target 19

**A/N: Aw… you humans are just the most beautiful people.**

 **Anyways. This chapter is a bit shorter than the last couple of ones, but as promised, things actually starts happening. This is the third act coming into play and the next couple of chapters, leading up to the final one, will be one I suspect I will enjoy writing very much, simply because I have realized I'm a surprisingly dark person.**

 **And so. Without further ado.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 19:**

 **And so it begins**

She hadn't felt this light in the soul for a long time.

One would have thought that scolding a girl her own age would have made you feel heavier, but no. Tsuna believed that she had had so much pent up aggression, that letting it out, even if it was just in front of the one girl, made her feel lighter.

The past few days had passed in something like a slow daze.

Reborn had given her time off for the time being, allowing her to do whatever she wanted whilst he made the proper preparations needed to move on with her training.

What those preparations were, she had no idea.

She didn't know what she was supposed to do with her days now. She had been so used to the training schedule that Reborn had laid out for her previously, that not having one left her at a loss as to what she was supposed to do.

It was now Thursday, and she had decided to partake in an activity that she had long-since put on the shelf, taking a back-seat to her training.

Painting.

It was rather late, but the sky was speckled with clouds in different sizes and shades, the sun shining bright through them, bathing their town in flecks of shadow.

Sitting on the front porch, Tsuna relished in the methodical movements of the brush, feeling a sense of relief at finally being able to return to something she actually _knew_ she could do. Not something she was aware she had the _pote_ _n_ _tial_ of accomplishing after several long days of next-to relentless training.

Training that she knew would start back up soon.

She didn't look forward to that.

A knock on the glass slide door brought her out of her thoughts.

Turning around, Tsuna saw Reborn leaning against the door frame, arms crossed in front of his chest as he looked at her.

"Pack your bags." he suddenly said, his voice almost making Tsuna flinch.

"Why?"

Reborn sighed. Shaking his head as though the answer was obvious.

"We can't practice for Level 3 inside the house." he said, his voice hinting on a tone of annoyance. "I've arranged for the two of us to live in a cottage for the time being." he pinned her with a serious expression. "We'll leave in the morning."

With that said, the man turned back inside the house, and disappeared from view.

For a long moment, Tsuna just sat there, brush still hovering in the air between her body and the canvas.

Finally, she let out a deep breath.

So much for her brief vacation.

Shaking her head, she decided not to worry about that as of right now.

She had a painting to finish.

* * *

They had left before the sun was up.

Reborn had somehow gotten a hold of a sleek black sports car and parked it outside of the Sawada household in the middle of the night.

Just a few minutes after 5a.m, Reborn quietly entered her bedroom whilst she was still asleep, yanking her out of bed, grabbed her bags and pulled her out of the house whilst still in her pajamas.

Of course, she had been absolutely terrified when she suddenly found herself on the floor of her bedroom, but seeing at it had been her tutor that had pulled her out, she had just gone with it, allowing herself to be dragged out of her house, most likely looking like a drunken person in her half-sleeping state.

She'd learned to simply go with her tutor's antics a long time ago.

Once in the car, Reborn drove off to the forest lining the north of the town, near the rich district. He drove into the forest for about twenty minutes, loosing themselves within the trees, allowing Tsuna to catch up on some of the sleep she had lost.

She was awakened by a rather rough shake to her shoulder.

Groggily, she turned to look at the bastard that woke her.

"We're here." Reborn said, getting out of the car.

They had reached a large log-cabin. A cabin raised from the ground, creating a porch at a height about the same as Tsuna standing on Reborn's head.

It was actually a surprisingly beautiful cabin.

Walking inside, Tsuna discovered that the cabin was actually really modest, more like a hunting lodge than anything she would have expected Reborn to have arranged.

"Make yourself at home." the man himself said as he threw a bag onto the nearby couch.

Looking around the house, Tsuna turned towards her tutor.

"Where is…?"

"First door on the left." he gestured to the stairs before retreating into the kitchen.

Shaking her head in an attempt to rid herself of some of the drowsiness that still hung over her. Adjusting the hold of her bag, she moved towards the stairs, stumbling up the steps until she reached the landing.

She tripped in through the first door on the left, and looked around the room.

It was simple, with one window framed by light pastel-blue chiffon curtains, a wooden desk, a log bed, and a wooden closet with a mirror mounted into it's door.

The only color in the room aside from brown, were varying shades blue in the curtains, sheets, and carpet, which Tsuna actually had no problem with. Well, the sides of the bed was lined with thick pelts in varying colors which she didn't know what to think about.

Dropping the bag on the bed, she wandered over to the window, almost throwing it open.

Leaning her arms on the window-pain, she looked out over the seemingly endless ocean of forest.

But then… a shadow.

A rather large, human shaped shadow.

She could have sworn she saw it moving through the trees.

She straightened, face whiter than it had previously been, hands clenching around the wooden framing as she desperately searched through the trees for the shadow.

 **Knock! Knock! Knock!**

Tsuna jumped from the sudden sound, making her spin around towards the door.

Reborn stood there, an orange paper bag hanging from his hand.

He raised his eyebrow at her reaction, but he didn't dwell on it for too long.

"We'll start the training in an hour." he said, walking over to her with long, slow strides, holding out the bag towards her. "You should be wearing these when we start."

Frowning lightly, Tsuna walked over to her tutor, taking the bag from her hands.

Reborn had never given her anything before. If he wanted her to wear something specific, he exchanged them from the clothes she had already picked out for herself. And now he was outright giving her something to wear during their training?

For a split second, Tsuna dreaded that she would open the bag and find lingerie inside of it.

She mentally slapped that thought away.

This was Reborn, that was not something the man would do.

Keeping her eyes on her tutor, she opened the bag.

Thankfully, there was no lingerie. In stead, she found what she suspected to be tailored training clothes, as well as a pair of shoes.

The bastard must have gone through her clothes to get her measurements.

She glanced back up at her tutor.

"Why are you giving me this?" she asked.

The corner of the man's lip twitched into a half smirk.

"They're made out of a special fabric." he explained, pulling out the sleeve of the sweater. "It's a special form of fiber that's resistant to determination created flames."

Tsuna's eyes flickered towards the sleeve.

Hesitantly, she looked back to Reborn.

"Thank you..." she said hesitantly.

Nodding in affirmation, Reborn turned around and left the room.

Tsuna glanced down at the bag in her arms, not really being able to comprehend everything that Reborn was doing for her. She just couldn't understand why someone like him was putting up with teaching her.

She could somehow tell that Reborn was of a high standing somewhere, and yet he had come to their small town and just decided to teach her in controlling her flames.

Sure, he had said that it was it was dangerous for a DiLeone to not know of their powers, but something had called him to the town in the first place.

Just who was he?

* * *

Three days have passed since the two of them arrived at the cabin.

Every morning, the two of them would move out into the forest, into a larger clearing in even more of a secluded part of the forest than the cabin was. They had already paved something of a path there from the cabin by the time Monday arrived.

They were in there now.

"Increase the pressure." Reborn instructed as he slowly walked around his student, studying her like a lion sizing up it's prey.

Tsuna stood in the exact center of the clearing, her arms positioned stiffly at her sides as they slowly but surely started to glow under the pressure of her contained flames.

The training clothes she had been given were an orange tight-fitting tank-top under a white and blue zip-up sweater with matching Capri sweat-pants and sneakers with white socks.

She had actually loved the outfit she had been given, surprised at Reborn's sense of feminine fashion.

Tsuna's breath became heavier with each passing second as the heat built up inside of her.

"Slowly release the containment." Reborn's voice sounded as though it was reaching her through water, sinking into her brain with the speed of molasses in her fevered head.

Swallowing heavily, Tsuna tried to comply to his instruction.

As the pressure rises inside of her, Tsuna begins to release the figurative lid surrounding her hands, imagining them thin out slowly under the pressure of the flames.

As it continued building, the amount of liquid flowing out of her pores increased. She could feel her swear running down her back as the temperature inside of her rose, soaking her clothes from the inside.

This part of the training is drying her out more than she had ever experienced.

As the containment thinned, Tsuna could feel a strong resistance in it going further. Something inside of her was keeping her from properly releasing the flames.

She couldn't keep up her concentration, it broke.

A wave of exhaustion washed over her, she lost all strength in her legs, sending her tumbling to the ground under her.

As an after thought, she hoped that she wouldn't get grass-stains on the pants.

Shaking his head, his arms crossed over his chest, Reborn walked up to his fallen student with a disappointed expression on his face.

"You're hesitating." he said, voice low.

Panting, Tsuna looked up at her tutor through her bangs.

"I'm scared of them..." she admitted, trying to control her breathing.

"You shouldn't." Reborn retorted, sounding particularly displeased by this fact. "You won't burn even if you do loose control."

Tsuna allowed the muscles in her arms to fall slack, sending her back crashing to the grass covered ground beneath her.

"I'm not worried about myself." she mumbled into the gentle breeze.

"You won't burn me either." Reborn immediately returned, sounding very much as though the idea was ridiculous.

Tsuna raised her head to look at him.

"But what about the forest?"

Reborn rose his eyebrow at this.

"What about the forest?"

Tsuna raised herself just a bit more.

"Won't the forest be damaged?"

Reborn couldn't help the sigh from escaping his lips, bringing up his hand to rub the bridge of his nose. He had known that Tsuna was a caring soul, but to also care for the environment to the point of putting their training on the line?

It was just his luck.

"Don't worry about the forest." he demanded, turning to walk back to his previous position. "Now start over."

Shaking her head, Tsuna peeled herself off of the ground.

Brushing off her clothes, she started heading off towards their paved path.

Reborn frowned at her.

"Where are you going?" he asked in a demanding manner.

Sighing, Tsuna turned around towards him.

"Nature calls."

And with that, she turned back around, and walked off, disappearing through the trees, leaving Reborn in the clearing.

* * *

Frowning slightly, Reborn fished his phone out of his pocket.

Checking the time, he turned back to look at the path they'd created.

She'd been gone for just over half an hour, and there was no sign or even sound of her returning, even when Reborn really focused for sounds.

She shouldn't have been gone for this long, she takes at the most five-ten minutes in the bathroom and the walk from the clearing to the cabin takes at the most ten minutes. However you look at it, she should have been back by now.

An angered frown etched itself onto Reborn's brow.

If that girl was stalling…

Growling, he allowed the phone to slip back into his pocket.

With quick strides, the tutor made his way through the forest, following their paved path through the trees as he mentally went through the many different scenarios in which he could make the girl's training all the more painful.

Half-way there however, he paused.

A branch, a bit further from the path, was broken.

It was too high up for either an animal or Tsuna to have caused it, and he most certainly never left such obvious signs behind. He didn't need to stand all that close to the branch to see that it was freshly broken.

An idea formed in his head, and not one he particularly liked.

He sped up his steps, hurrying through the forest until he reached the stairs leading up to the porch of the cabin.

There, he paused again.

A footprint.

A footprint at the side of the stairs.

The footprint of a heeled shoe.

Tsuna hadn't brought any heeled shoes, and he seriously doubted she even owned a pair of stiletto's with the way her balance used to be. Even with her ballet lessons. The only heels he had ever spotted in her closet were either wedge, clogs, or square's.

On closer inspection, Reborn realized that the shoe-print was too big for it to have come from one of Tsuna's shoes. Her feet were too tiny for that.

Understanding filling him, Reborn rushed into the cabin.

It looked almost exactly like it always were, but Reborn had a tendency to look further than the normal person.

Running his fingertips along the walls, he could feel shallow scratches within the fibres.

Looking over the room, his eyes fell to the floor.

The rug. It was moved slightly out of the way.

A loud growl of frustration tore it's way through his throat.

Furious, Reborn grabbed the keys he had left on the counter in the kitchen and rushed out the front door.

Tsuna had been abducted.

* * *

The girl walked down a road lining the outside of the forest. It was a short-cut home and if the amount of bags she was carrying, she really needed one.

She was fiddling with her newly bought cellphone, automatically going through the multiple steps to make it fully functioning for her use.

Her arms were heavily weighed down by expensive clothing brand bags, multiple large bags holding several boxes of brand shoes. On her back, she had a large basket with straps over her shoulders. A bag filled almost to the breaking point with exquisite yarns of fabric.

She was just about to pass the opening to another street when a whisper reached her ear.

"Careful." a female voice warned. "If you handle her too roughly she'll wake up."

The froze in her steps.

Sneaking up to the corner, she discreetly peeked at what was happening on the other side.

"Throw her in." a man ordered, getting into the drivers seat of a large black van.

A group of ten black-clad people surrounded the car, the majority of them carrying weaponry, but thankfully, none of them were looking in Haru's direction.

They must have believed that the forest path isn't worthy of supervision. And they would have been right as very few people tend to use this path, only about two every week. And Haru was the one that used the road the most.

As the girl watched the group, she notices a spot of color within the black.

It was a figure, a figure dressed in colorful training clothes, sporting a head of familiar messy golden-blonde hair. She was being carried rather carelessly between two of the men dressed in black, supervised by another figure, only this one was obviously female.

The girl felt her heartbeat quicken at the sigh. Fear flooding her system.

The worst part was, she recognized the girl.

The girl that had scolded her for jumping to conclusions. The girl that had picked up a homeless boy from the street and treated him like her brother.

The girl that was obviously being kidnapped.

Eyes wide, the girl lifted her phone up even higher towards the scene, her thumb moving over the volume button before she activated the camera function.

The sound and flash off, the girl started taking pictured of the scene.

The girl being hauled into the car by two of the black-dressed men.

The black dressed men silently slamming the door shut.

The backside of the car as it drove away.

For a long moment, the girl stood as frozen in place, phone still raised towards the slowly disappearing vehicle, her eyes wide with fear at what she had just witnessed.

She had to tell someone.

She had to show the pictures to someone!

Putting a foot backwards, the girl quickly spun around in place, completely forgetting about her multiple bags, and ran.

* * *

Gokudera was having a very slow day.

In fact, the past few days had been pretty slow.

Juudaime had given him a call last Friday to inform him why he wouldn't find her at her house. That she had moved forward to the more practical part of her training, the part that was a lot more dangerous, and so, Reborn had taken her to a remote location where she would have less of a chance to be seen by someone who just, wouldn't understand.

He couldn't help but to feel a bit left out of it all.

He was the one person aside from Reborn himself, and he hadn't been told of the training progress.

Juudaime had told him that she would only be gone for as long as it took for her to learn how to activate the flames as will, and that hopefully wouldn't take more than a week at most, but that didn't make the feel of abandonment any more bearable.

Growling, the delinquent stepped out of the bathroom.

Dressed in nothing but sweatpants, he used the towel hanging around his shoulders to dry off his dripping locks.

Standing at the window, he looked out over the town with a bored expression.

Nothing to do.

Absolutely nothing.

A sharp sound called him out of his thoughts.

Turning his head, his eyes locked onto his phone, lying on the arm-rest of his couch.

He frowned.

He couldn't recall the last time he had heard that signal. He mostly get phone-calls, and even those are very rare, the last one be got being from Juudaime herself.

Still frowning, he snatched the communication device from the couch.

Hesitating, he opened the message.

For a moment, his face showed absolutely nothing. Then, his eyes widened more and more with each word that registered into his brain.

His phone dropped out of his hand, cluttering to the floor.

Fear on his face, Gokudera grabbed the first shirt he could get his hands on, snatching the phone from the floor as he rushed out of the apartment, barely remembering that he needed shoes before he was out the door.

Rushing out of the building, he almost ran into someone.

A certain someone that he actually knew.

Yamamoto had been back from having his bat handle replaced after having worn it out with his extensive training. The bat had been hanging on his shoulder when Gokudera had suddenly rushed out of the building, almost knocking him over.

The delinquent in question stopped running, turning to look at his fellow classmate.

"Wha-" Yamamoto began , but the expression on Gokudera's face stopped him.

It was an expression of absolute panic, wide eyed devastation and desperation that filled Yamamoto with a sense of dread.

Gokudera panicked?

What in the world could have made the angriest person in school panicked?

It didn't take much before the answer hit him.

Something must have happened to Tsuna.

Ruffling his hair, Gokudera let out a loud growl.

"Come on." he grumbled, waving with his hand in a "come here" motion.

Yamamoto didn't even hesitate before following the young man that had made it perfectly clear that he hated his guts.

He couldn't dwell on that right now though.

The two teenagers rushed towards the parked motorbike, not even bothering with helmets as they got on, Gokudera kicking the engine into a roar before they sped off down the road.

* * *

They were in front of the Sawada residence faster than what should have been legal.

Yamamoto had been clambering onto the back of the seat, which proved to be difficult with his injured limb. By the time they actually reached the house, his hair was in a tousled mess from the wind and his eyes wide open in fear.

Gokudera must be seriously panicked for him to have broken the speed limit like this.

Reborn was already waiting for them outside of the house, leaning against a sleek black sports car with his one arm crossed in front of his chest, a grave expression on his face as he spoke to someone over the phone.

Gokudera killed the engine and was off the bike within seconds, almost knocking Yamamoto off along the way as he hurried over to the suited man.

Yamamoto could do little more than follow him.

At the sight of them, Reborn quickly ended the call, stuffing the phone into his pocket.

"Is it true!?" Gokudera demanded, stopping close to the tutor.

"What is?" Yamamoto asked, looking between the two of them.

For a brief moment, it appeared as though the two men would ignore him. Then, Reborn let out a sigh, tilting his head in his direction.

"Tsuna's been abducted."

All color drained from the boy's faces.

A loud growl escaped from Gokudera's lips.

"How did that happen?!" he screamed in a mix of panic and anger.

Yamamoto looked at Reborn in increased worry, not knowing what to do.

His hand tighten around his bat.

Reborn rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighing heavily.

"I had made precautions for us not to be found were we were." he explained, giving the boys a pointed look. "They must have followed us when we left." he crossed his arms over his chest in contained anger. "They took her during a break in training."

Gokudera could no longer contain himself.

He moved forward, his hands clenching around the lapels of Reborn's suit jacket.

"Why haven't you done anything?!" he practically screamed, yanking on the jacket.

Reborn stood still as a statue, rolling his eyes at the boy's actions.

"They were too clean." he explained, expertly and effortlessly throwing Gokudera off of him, sending the teenager stumbling backwards towards the Sawada household gates. "I'll need something to actually go on."

"A-ano..." a small, feminine voice suddenly spoke up from the side.

All heads snapped towards it's direction.

There stood a girl, dressed in artistic, most likely self-designed, clothing, arms and back weighed down by a multitude of bags that made the boys wonder just how physically capable the young woman was. She had a bright blue phone in her hands, tightly clutched to her chest.

Gokudera recognized her immediately.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" he demanded loudly

Yamamoto frowned at his reaction.

"Who is she?" he asked, looking at her with a confused expression.

The girl bit her lip, her fingers tightening around her phone.

"I'm Miura Haru." she answered, voice barely louder than a whisper.

Reborn raised his eyebrow at her.

"Why are you here?"

Haru's shoulders tensed for a moment.

"I heard you say the girl living here." she nodded pointedly towards the Sawada residence. "Was abducted."

"What's it too ya?" Gokudera growled angrily, shoving his hands into his pockets.

Habu bit her lip again, eyes closing for a second. Then, she practically pried the phone away from her chest. She clicked in on and with practiced ease opened something that none of the three men were able to see from where they were standing.

Taking a deep breath, she turned the phone towards them.

"I took pictures of it."

Sure enough, right there was the picture of two black dressed men carrying the limp body of someone they all knew all too well.

Reborn practically snatched the phone from her hands, quickly swiping through the pictures available to see just how many there were.

He looked over the top of it, giving Haru a rare smile.

A blush spread across her face at the expression, her eyes quickly turning towards the ground.

He fished his own phone back out, holding it next to Haru's as he sent the pictures taken to his own phone, deleting his number from it's memory before he handed it back to the girl.

"Go back home." he ordered calmly. "Go back home and lock the doors."

At her confused expression, his eyes hardened.

"You never know if someone might have seen you."

Her face paled at his words.

Seeing that she understood, Reborn turned his attention back towards the two young men.

"Get in the car boys." he ordered, looking through the pictures with a much more focused expression. He watched as Haru hesitantly turned around, her phone still clutched to her chest as she hurried away from the scene.

The two teenagers turned towards one another, sharing a look.

The second that followed, the two boys almost attacked the vehicle, throwing the doors open and settling down inside, not even bothering with seat-belts.

Seconds later, Reborn got into the drivers seat.

"Where are we going?" Yamamoto asked, his good hand tightening around his bat.

Reborn silently turned off his phone, allowing it to slip back into his pocket before he put his hands on the wheel.

"We'll go to where Tsuna was taken." Reborn answered, his hand closing around the keys still in the ignition. "But first, we'll need to pick up one more person."

The engine roared to life.

* * *

 **A/N: Oh God, I'm evil.**

 **Now don't worry, I'm already working on the chapter that follows this one so it probably won't take too long until I'm updating again. Unless I feel like being evil and hold it off until I've finished a couple of more chapters.**

 **The past couple of chapters have actually been finished faster than I have ever finished anything, and for the first time since my horrible attempt at a first novel from 2013, I can actually see myself finishing this. Now this is an actual, BIG, deal, as I have never actually finished a longer story, and be proud of what I've written.**

 **Please stay with me for eight more chapters.**

 **We're almost done with this Arch!**

 **Lots of love.**

 **Me!**


	20. Target 20

**A/N: Oh my God… we're seven chapters from the end, excluding this one.**

 **We're almost at the 800 mark on followers and 700 on favorites and I just can't believe that this story has gotten so far.**

 **It's one of my youngest stories but it is by far the largest in bother word count and following and I have no one else to thank but you absolutely gorgeous humans who have taken the time to read this.**

 **Anyways… finally, I have decided to relieve you of the cliffhanger from the last time.**

 **Please.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 20:**

 **Locked up in darkness**

She could probably have said that it was the headache that woke her up.

Groaning as she slowly pried her eyes open to only find herself faced with more darkness, only this time it was more fuzzy shades of gray than anything.

She also, couldn't feel her arms. They were being suspended by something jingling whenever she moved and they had probably been suspended for quite some time as she could actually feel the effort her body was going through to pump her blood upwards.

Finally, after a short while, her sight started to clear.

She was in a weathered concrete room bathed in shadows, the walls cracked and obviously not as strong as they had been when they had first been created. There was even ivy climbing in through what could only be a window, even if the window had been boarded up with wooden boards, sunlight slipping in through the cracks.

These strips of sunlight was in fact, the only light in the room, the rest was darkness.

Mind still fuzzy, Tsuna attempted to stand up, only to find that she couldn't. This time, the jiggling sounds caught her attention.

Looking up, Tsuna saw something very distinctly metallic glimmer above her, something shiny that was attached to her wrists in thick shackles wrapping around them.

She was chained to the wall.

What the hell?!

How did this happen?

Desperately, Tsuna tried to recall her last memory.

She remembered leaving the bathroom, making it into the foyer of the cabin before she suddenly felt a sharp sting in her shoulder. After that, everything had become quite fuzzy but she recalled desperately trying to grab onto something but finding nothing but wall as arms dragged her out of the cabin.

The sound of rattling keys brought her out of her thoughts.

Suddenly, a thick, metal door swung open, showering the room in a blinding white light that went Tsuna into a frenzy of blinking.

Five silhouettes appeared within the light, casting their long shadows into the room as they entered. Their shadows casting over Tsuna, easing the shock of the sudden light.

Tsuna couldn't help but to shy into the wall at the presence of the group.

The group consisted of four males and one woman. The tallest man was of an athletic build with a buzz-cut and the distinct outline of glasses or sunglasses on his face, the shortest man was bearmode (strong-fat) that happened to be bald, another man was lanky in shape with a thick head of straight fiery red hair as seen when the light shined down on it, the last man was of a muscular built with long hair tied back into a ponytail. The woman was tall and shapely with long hair flowing down her back in gentle waves.

They all looked between the ages of 20 and 45. The woman and the redhead being the youngest two of the lot.

Baldy crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You look pathetic." he said, his voice coming out gruff and surprisingly high pitched.

Glasses pushed said glasses up his nose, tilting his head to the side.

"Don't you even think about escaping." he said, his voice revealing itself to be a dark bass. "We've taken your medior."

Tsuna's brow twitched into a frown.

Medior?

What in the world is a medior?

What are they talking about?

The red haired man loudly snickers before walking up to the chained up girl with a cocky swagger to his walk. A walk that brought a look to Tsuna's face that clearly portrayed:

 _Oh, come on. Seriously?_

The man crouched down in front of her, a smirk on his lips.

His breath was absolutely horrendous, almost making Tsuna feel the need to gag.

He grabbed her by the chin with a rough hand, forcing her head up to his own, bringing her face-to-face with him.

"Don't worry." he said with a mock cooing voice. "We're not going to kill you yet." he moved his hand to stroke her over the cheek in what would have been an affectionate gesture had the touch not had a rough edge to it. "We're going to wait until you're directly in the view of the Warden." he placed his palm to her cheek. "Then we'll kill you."

Warden?

What the hell are they talking about?

God! Gokudera's language is starting to rub off on her!

Even more questions piled up inside of her head the more these people talked.

She didn't get to think much more about it though, as she felt the pressure against her cheek increase. Increase, just before she left her head brutally shoved into an uncomfortable position, the side of her head violently colliding with the concrete wall.

At the collision, she felt something along her hairline split open. A searing pain knocking the breath out of her lungs.

Desperately keeping her mouth shut, Tsuna kept the pained whispers in. She refused to show any form of weakness in front of these people.

Trying to catch her breath, Tsuna felt the distinct sensation of a thick liquid liquid slowly trickle down the side of her head.

Breathing heavily, she glanced back towards the man.

The heavy built man angrily stormed over to the red head, violently hitting him over the head with a force strong enough to send the lanky man practically flying to the side, crashing to the floor in a similar manner to what he had just done to Tsuna.

The muscular man growled down at the red headed man.

"She was not supposed to be injured." he instructed with the voice of a military commander.

Stubbornly, Tsuna kept her mouth shut at his words.

Unknowingly to Tsuna, the woman raised an eyebrow at this.

"You!" The muscular man said, pointing towards said woman, snapping her attention away from the girl they had chained up against the wall.

"Guard the girl."

Tsuna imagined the woman's eyes rolling at the order, her arms crossing over her chest to the sound of metal clinking against another piece of metal.

Was she wearing bracelets?

A soft but irritated groan could be heard from the woman before her silhouette turned towards the man.

"Don't give me orders." she said with a tone of absolute superiority.

At her words, the four men backed away, showing clearly who really held the most power out of all of them. This was actually a quite refreshing sight to Tsuna, what with all of the male authority figures out there in the world, to see a woman hold power over the man "in charge" like that, and obviously not through sexual means, but through fear…

If she wasn't currently being held captive by this woman, she would have really liked her.

The man quickly regained his composure, turning his attention to the other men.

"Let's go." he barked, jerking his head towards the door.

As the men slowly made their way out of the room, the woman remained behind. Tsuna couldn't help to notice how the red-haired one threw a quick, "seductive", glance back at her, sending furious shivers running up her spine.

The door slammed shut behind the men with that same loud screeching noise, sending the room into darkness once again.

For a long moment, the only source of light came from the poor excuse of a window.

Tsuna could hear the woman bustling about in the dark, she had no idea what she was doing until suddenly, something lit up from the wall wooden table propped up against the wall, bathing the room in a soft, orange light.

A lantern, she had actually lit a lantern of all things.

Sitting down on the raggedy stool by the table, the woman turned his full attention towards Tsuna.

Tsuna took this time to fully study the woman.

She was tall, slender, with a perfect hourglass figure, long, shapely arms and legs, the latter of which crossed as she sat down, making one foot dangle in the air. The foot in question bore a shoe that Tsuna herself wouldn't be caught dead in, because she would definitely die from a fall if she attempted to. The slick black stiletto heeled pumps had a multitude of bondage straps lining the upper side of her foot, leading up to the start of her ankle.

Her leather pants were Capri with seams lining the front of her legs, splitting just below her knees. Her belt was studded, she wore two tops, the under payer being a red tube-top whilst the outer layer was a ripped up black t-shirt with a white, gray, and red colored print that she couldn't identify. Multiple silver bangles glittered around her wrists, rings clung to her long, body fingers, and a black ribbon sporting a large Ruby surrounded by silver framing acted as a choker.

Tsuna was surprised to find that the woman had obvious aristocratic features, halfheartedly hidden under layers of dark make-up framing her eyes and the blood red lipstick applied to her full lips.

She had long, ash brown hair that had obviously been died pink at one point, the tinge was still in there, it waved gently as it fell down her back, stopping at her hips.

Eyes dark in the light of the lantern, the woman studied Tsuna as well.

"Don't even think about escaping." she said with a bored tone, lifting up her hand to pick at her blood-red colored nails, sharpened to a point. "You should know by know that trying to access your flames would be useless."

Tsuna frowned at her words.

"How do you know about the flames?" she asked, voice calm despite everything that was happening to her.

Apparently, her tone surprised the woman.

"Everyone in the Shrouded World knows about the flames." she answered, sounding annoyed.

Tsuna looked all the more confused at her choice of words.

"What does that mean?" Tsuna found herself asking.

A surprisingly natural looking frown morphed it's way onto the woman's features.

"Didn't your tutor tell you anything?" she asked, sounding moments away from exploding at the young woman chained to the wall.

Tsuna frowned right back at the woman.

"Only things concerning the fire." she answered, her voice coming out almost hesitantly.

To Tsuna's surprise, the woman threw her head back, letting out a loud, clearly frustrated groan at Tsuna's response.

Just what was Reborn keeping from her?

* * *

So far, Hibari Kyoya has had a relatively normal summer.

He'd helped out his uncle with his paper work because his cousins had either moved out of the house or weren't home for one reason or the other and his uncle was, to put it lightly, not that adept at actually doing his job.

You'd think the mayor knew a little bit on how companies were run.

Walking into his large, exquisitely decorated bedroom, Hibari was practically peeling off the cardigan he had taken to wear that day, even in the steaming summer air. Because heat does not excuse poor dress-code.

In the most careless move that could ever be expected from someone like Hibari, he threw the cardigan over the back of his desk chair. His hand moving up to loosen the tie when his eyes caught on to something hanging on the wall above the desk.

A picture frame containing a small, pressed flower.

A daisy, to be precise.

The sight of the flower brought a pained expression onto Hibari's features. His hands fell to the surface of his desk, a long breath escaping from his lips.

Why did the world have to be so cruel?

"Rough day?" a voice suddenly spoke up from the side.

Within seconds, Hibari had a tonfa in hand, arm raised up in an attack position as he faced the direction of the voice, ready to strike down the intruder.

A chuckle sounded at his instinctive reaction.

Out of he shadows, a tall man stepped out. A man with messy black hair visible under an expensive looking black fedora decorated with a yellow ribbon lining the bottom. He was dressed in an equally expensive looking tailored black suit over a yellow dress shirt an a black tie. His skin was pale but Hibari couldn't see his eyes from where the rim of the had shadowed them.

His eyes narrowed at the sight of him.

"You should save your energy for later." the man said, stuffing his hands casually into his pockets.

Hibari frowned at the man.

"Why should I do that?"

The man remained silent for a long, nerve wrecking second, taking almost forever to look around the room before he turns his attention back to the eighteen year old.

"Sawada Tsunako had been kidnapped by a group of professionals."

For a split second, Hibari's eyes widened, his hand tightening around his weapon.

His eyes narrowed dangerously at the man.

"What could kidnappers possibly want with her?" he practically demanded, keeping his voice at a talking volume was proving to be a very difficult chore.

"I can't tell you." the man answered with a tone of amused calm.

Hibari's temper suddenly flared, his arm raising as he took a step up towards the man, openly glaring at him this time round.

"Why can't I know?!" he demanded, almost screaming.

"I haven't even told Tsunako yet." the man quickly answered, running a finger over the dresser he had wound up standing next to.

"Tell me anyway." Hibari demanded, annoyed at the man's casual demeanor.

Almost amused, the man took a step closer to the shorter man.

"Why are you so concerned for Sawada Tsunako?" his deep voice asked, the amusement clearly audible on his voice, along with his honest curiosity.

Squaring his shoulders, Hibari looked right where he assumed the man's eyes would be under the heavy shadows his hat had thrown them under.

"I can't tell you." he said, throwing the man's comment right back at him.

The man tilted his head.

"Why?"

"Because Sawada Tsunako herself has forgotten all about it." Hibari answered, almost throwing the words out as quickly as he could, his eyes twitching as though the words themselves were physically hurting him.

Groaning, he let his arm fall to his side, the tonfa along with it.

Despite himself, he allowed his eyes to drift over to the pressed flower once again, the man following his gaze.

Looking back at the eighteen year old boy, the man stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"I'll tell you everything." the man said, causing Hibari to snap his head towards him. "But only after Tsunako herself has been informed."

For a moment, Hibari appeared enraged. Then, slowly, he allowed his shoulders to relax.

"I'll hold you to that."

The man straightened his back, looking down on Hibari.

"Now." he said, crossing his arms. "Will you help with the rescue mission?"

Not saying a word, Hibari snatched his cardigan back up from his desk chair.

He turned back to the man, eyes blazing.

"Lead the way." he practically ordered. "No one messes with my little rabbit."

Already putting his cardigan back on, the prefect practically stormed out of the room in absolute anger, his steps sounding through the house long after he left the room.

The man had raised an eyebrow at the name Hibari had given the missing girl, but a smirk slowly spread across his lips, his eyes shadowed by his fedora.

* * *

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna gave the chains an experimental yank.

Well, considering the fifteen other experimental tugs she's done, by this point, it could probably no longer be considered experimental.

The sting in her wrists informed her that she wasn't doing anything to help her case.

She couldn't help the quiet whimper of pain that escaped her parched lips, mentally cursing herself for having sensitive skin in the first place.

Why did super-sensitive skin have to be the side-affect of being fireproof? Like, yeah, fate made you immune to fire so we'll increase your ability to sense things by touch and make you super sensitive to everything around you. Try to use cosmetics without developing a rash!

One cannot be too immune to damage apparently.

Oh God, her pain was making her sarcastic!

Her temple was still pulsing from the last strike dealt against her. It had stopped bleeding, she could tell that much, the blood on the side of her face as well judging by the furious itching sensation generating from that general spot.

Again, damn the sensitivity!

"Don't bother." the woman's naturally seductive voice rang from the other side of the room, making Tsuna turn towards her. "The chains are too strong for a simple yank to break them." she never looked up from her phone as she spoke, the device lighting her face with a more white light than the lantern.

"I'm aware of that." Tsuna replied calmly.

The woman raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Why do you keep yanking on the chains then?"

Tsuna glanced up at said chains, a desperate look washing over her features at the sight of them. She had already lost the majority of her strength in her arms from their awkward position, she really wanted to bring them down, but of course, that wasn't possible.

Sighing heavily, she turned back to the woman.

"It's against human nature to not want to survive."

Her words almost drowned out the distinct rattling of keys on the other side of the door, and so, when the thick piece of metal actually opened, it was more of a shock than either woman were prepared to admit.

The door suddenly opening showered the room in a bright light that practically blinded the women for a brief moment. For the woman, this was the first time it was happening, for Tsuna it was the second, and she was already growing tired of it happening.

Why did they put her in a dark room again?

It was the red haired man, still silhouetted by the light, but this time, he was carrying two trays of what could only be food. And, Tsuna was puzzled to see a long, thick chain hanging in loops around his elbow.

Leaving the door open, the man walked over to the table, settling down one of the trays in front of her.

"Bon appetite." he said, his accent absolutely horrible, his smirk even more so.

Rightfully for the woman, she pushed her entire palm in the man's face, shoving him away from her, but not violently enough to make him fall over and drop the tray to the floor.

She couldn't deny their prisoner nourishment.

Ignoring the woman's obvious rejection, the man turned to Tsuna, his one hand gripping the tray as he allowed the chains to slide down to his other. It was then that Tsuna noticed that the chains bore a shackle at either end.

Just what was he planning.

Smirking, the man settled down the tray on her side.

"A mean for a princess." he said with a mocking tone.

Once again, Tsuna felt herself become incredibly confused at his choice of words.

Just what was wrong with these people?

Tsuna frowned at the man as he reached his hand into his pocket, pulling out a small key.

Smirking at her, the man wrapped his hand around one of her shackles, inserting the key into the small lock on the side.

Tsuna continued to grow more and more confused as her arm dropped down from where it had previously been suspended. She immediately felt her blood rushing back into the limb, making her skin tingle.

"Don't get any ideas." the man said, lifting the new chains up to the wall, expertly loosening the chains from the wall with another key, exchanging them for the new, longer ones on his arm. "I'm just exchanging your chains." he said, looking down at her, keeping a firm hold on the chain still firmly clasped around her other wrist. He smirked. "You can't eat with your hands above your head now can you?" with the chains in place, he crouched down in front of her again. "If you don't eat, you'll starve, and that means you'll die ahead of time, and we can't have that."

Grabbing hold of her wrist, the man attached the new shackles to her wrist, never once taking his eyes off of her. Only, when the shackles were in place, he didn't just drop his hands from her wrist, in stead, he allowed his fingers to slide down her forearm before he allowed her limb to drop.

Unpleasant shivers ran over her skin at the touch.

The man was more than just a little repulsive.

Immediately, the man unlocked the second shackle, exchanging it with the new one. He did the exact same movement before he let her second arm drop down into her lap.

The blood now washed back into her limbs, making the tingling feeling she got from them next to unbearable.

Another thing that was unbearable, were the shivers she got from the mans hands.

The man just smirked at her reaction.

For the second time, the redhead grabbed a hold of her face, raising her up to his own.

For a long moment, he just studied her features, his free arm raising to rather roughly brush her hair out of her eyes.

After a moment, the man released a long, appreciative sigh.

"It's a shame that you are what you are." he commented, moving his hands so that they cupped either side of her head, stroking his thumbs over her cheeks. "You're just too adorable for your title to match up to it." he brought his face in even closer to hers, eyes flickering down to her patched lips.

"I wonder if it'd be alright to have you..." he whispered lowly between the two of them, making Tsuna's eyes widen. "Just once."

 _Mochida stepped up to her, crouching down to stare at her face again._

" _Do you have any idea how surprised I was Dame-Tsuna?" he reached out his hand closing it around her tie and lifted it from underneath her vest. "The girl we had been following since she walked out the school gates." he loosened the knot. "The girl who had looked so hot from behind, turned out to be the school looser." with a flourish, he removed the tie from around her neck and chucked it to the side._

The man slowly ran his thumb over her bottom lip, his own tong coming out to lick his own lips.

Before the thought really passed through Tsuna's mind, she had opened her mouth, retracted her chin, and viciously bit down on the tip of the offending appendage.

Yelping, the man ripped his hand away from her mouth, glaring down at the bite marks she had left behind on the thumb.

Growling, the man snapped his attention back to Tsuna.

The next second, Tsuna's head snapped to her side at the punch that suddenly crashed down at the side of her face. A stinging sensation spread over her cheek as she felt yet another piece of skin split open at the tiny piece of metal he'd been wearing.

A ring?

Back by the table, the woman clearly recognized the look Tsuna had had on her face, as well as the seemingly reflexive action.

Despite herself, her fingers tightened around her knife.

Unaware of the woman's actions behind him, the man reached down over Tsuna, his hand coming down to entangle his large fingers into her already messed up hair.

Desperately holding in a cry of pain, Tsuna allowed herself to be raised up from the ground by the hair, forcefully brought up to face the man directly.

Tsuna felt that familiar sensation of what little food still remaining in her stomach crawling back up her throat as the man's breath hit her in the face, over, and over, and over.

He chuckled at the sight of her face.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be doing anything drastic." he spoke through a low whisper, his fingers tightening around her hair. "The only reason you're still alive is because we need you to be in order to become Initiates."

Initiates?

Initiates for what?

She didn't get to ask many more mental questions as the man apparently grew tired of staring at her face. Still keeping a rough grip on her hair, the man braised his arm and threw her onto the ground as hard a he could, making her head bounce the slightest on the concrete.

Great.

Through her now fuzzy eyesight she could feel the cut on her temple open up once again.

So much for unharmed.

Vision starting to clear up a bit, Tsuna heard the man get off the ground, his shoes stomping out of the room before the thick door slammed shut behind him.

Well, at least he had actually left.

Groaning, Tsuna picked herself off of the ground, knowing perfectly well that she would develop plenty of bruises from the harsh treatment, but she just couldn't bring herself to care quite as much anymore. She's been bullied for over ten years, she could take a few punches.

She could feel the woman's eyes on her as she turned her attention to the tray.

There wasn't much on it. And nothing actually looked all that appetizing.

Mashed potatoes with a burger stake soaking in a thick, lumpy gravy, a small pack of ketchup sat in one of the corners, a side of canned vegetables and a cup of water. Thankfully, she hadn't accidentally knocked it over in her fall.

Not really caring about the food's general appearance, Tsuna picked up the rectangular piece of plastic and calmly settled it down in her lap.

It may not look all that appetizing, but she was starving.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright… that was it… chapter 20.**

 **I still can't believe I've reached that number of chapters, it's just insane!**

 **Please tell me what you think and I'll be back with the next chapter by say… Friday? Yeah, I think that's good.**

 **Until next time.**

 **Love.**

 **Me!**


	21. Target 21

**A/N: Greetings my beloved Earthlings! I hope everyone who celebrates it are having a fantastic Midsummer and don't get too drunk or wind up unintentionally pregnant (as is usual in Sweden this time of year).**

 **My Dad is marrying my stepmother tomorrow and I'm currently trying to project a fake sense of absolute ecstasy, YAY!**

 **Don't get me wrong, I love my stepmother, she's great and all, but there will always be that small part of me that doesn't approve of the coming union.**

 **Anyway… I can't believe I've only got four more chapters to finish writing. More than that to actually upload but you get the idea.**

 **We're there folks, the last seven chapters until the end.**

 **I'm just barely processing this…**

 **Please.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 21:**

 **Shocking relations!**

Tsuna leaned limply against the wall, hours had passed since the trays had been taken away and with them gone, Tsuna couldn't help but to notice how slowly, but surely, she was entering a groggy state similar to the one she had been when Reborn had dragged her off to the cabin.

Had her food been spiked with something?

You know what, she really wouldn't hold it against them to do that.

Of course, she didn't actually know whether or not it had actually been hours since she didn't have any means of which to tell the time, she didn't even know which time of day she had woken up.

What she did know was that the woman had been forced to change the wick in the lantern once, and that sure spoke for something about the passing of time.

Tsuna just kept her gaze on the woman, watching her as she kept all of her attention on her phone.

What she was doing, Tsuna had no idea, but it was obviously starting to irritate her.

Growling, the woman raised her hand, weaving her fingers into her long strands of hair, giving it a vicious ruffle, sending her beautiful locks flying around her head before calmly settling back along the line of her spine.

Tsuna herself, sat with her knees pressed up against her chest, using them as her only form of protection within the walls. Mindlessly, Tsuna fiddles with the links of the chain, almost absentmindedly looking for a weakness within their general structure.

Suddenly, the woman growled, slamming her phone down on the table in frustration.

Face falling into her hands, she ran her fingers through her hair, once again giving them a brutal ruffling violent enough that Tsuna legitimately feared she was trying to rip her beautiful locks out by the roots.

Deciding to spare her hair, the woman in stead turned her attention to Tsuna.

For several long minutes, the two females just sat there, staring at one another as though they were the most fascinating thing they had ever seen.

Finally, it all became too much for Tsuna.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

The woman raised her eyebrow at her.

"I could ask you the same question." the retorted, blood red lips twitching into a small smirk.

Tsuna rolled her eyes at the response.

"Unlike some people, I don't have a phone to fiddle with." she threw a pointed glance towards the table. "I don't really have anything better to do."

"Toucheé." the woman chuckled, uncrossing her legs and leaning her elbows on her thighs, openly studying the girl in front of her.

Finally, she gave an exasperated sigh, shaking her head in disbelief.

"You're so tiny." she almost exclaimed.

"I got that from my Mom." Tsuna replied easily, continuing to fiddle with the links in the chain. One of them has got to be weaker than the others right?

"It's a shame about your hair." the woman suddenly said, making Tsuna look up at her again.

"What?" she asked, completely thrown off.

"You have such a beautiful color and you don't even bother to take care of it?" the woman waved her hand in the air almost frantically, sounding as though she were talking about some sacred rule that should be obeyed at all times.

And who knows, maybe it was to her.

Absendtindedly, Tsuna brought up her hand to fiddle with one of her messed up locks.

"It wouldn't look good even if I did." she stated, allowing her hand to return to it's original position.

"A trip to the salon could easily fix that." the woman advised, looking at Tsuna in great interest now, as though she couldn't believe someone like her existed.

Tsuna looked at the woman, perplexed.

"As if I would trust a stranger with my hair."

This seemed to be enough for the woman, as she returned to simply studying her again.

For a couple of minutes, the two females said absolutely nothing.

Then, the woman spoke again.

"Why don't you wear make-up?"

Just the thought of it made Tsuna's skin itch.

"I'm allergic to most cosmetics." she answered smoothly. "The curse of the Cour DiLeone, overly sensitive skin." she made a point to wave her hands in the air, saying the last part with an overly exaggerated voice.

Oh yes, there must had definitely been something in the food.

She was starting to act like a child.

Apparently ignoring the childish outburst, the woman just looked intrigued by this revelation.

Crap! She probably shouldn't have told the enemy that!

Truth serum?

Silence fell over the women once again, allowing Tsuna the time to study the woman as well.

In the yellow, flickering light of the room, she couldn't get much of the woman's features, but from her general being, her behavior, her demeanor….

Tsuna couldn't help but to feel the air of familiarity from her.

How could that be?

Finally, she couldn't keep it in anymore.

"Have we met before?"

For a moment, the woman looked startled.

"No." she answered, telling the truth as Tsuna could clearly tell. "Why do you ask?"

Tsuna tilted her head to the side, her eyes narrowing into a small frown.

"No reason..." she mumbled. "You just feel familiar to me."

The woman joined in with Tsuna in her frowning.

* * *

The black car screeched into a halt in front of the log cabin, the wheels spraying the dirt all over the place around it.

The passengers of the car didn't even wait until the car had properly come to a stop, bolting out of the vehicle and tumbling to the ground. The athlete with the baseball bat looked the tiniest tint of green, desperately trying to compose himself as the other teens picked themselves off of the ground.

The ingine of the car died, and Reborn stepped out, looking as calm as ever.

"Is this where Juudaime was taken?" Gokudera asked, looking around.

"That is correct." Reborn answered, straightening out his suit jacket as he started off towards the cabin stairs, the teenagers following after him.

Suddenly, the man stopped, making the boys violently halt so that they wouldn't crash into him.

He turned towards the boys.

"Are you sure you want to be a part of this?" he asked, narrowing his eyes on them. "This will be your last chance to pull out, and you will never get a second one again."

Growling in irritation, Gokudera stormed straight past Reborn.

"I will not leave Juudaime in the hands of Kidnappers!" he loudly declared for everyone to hear.

Yamamoto's good hand clenched around his bat, his face morphing into a surprisingly frightening serious expression.

"I owe Tsuna to much to just leave," he said, following Gokudera's example.

Hibari growled angrily, storming past the man as well, though he was quickly past the two boys before him.

"I will not be left out of this." he stated.

Yamamoto looked at the eighteen year old with a curious look.

"What is your relationship with Tsuna?" he asked.

In front of them, the prefect froze in his steps.

He never turned back towards them, but he tilted his face in their direction.

"Not one she can remember." and then he just kept on walking.

The exact same thought flashed through the remaining boy's heads.

" _I have been bullied since I was five."_

 _Yamamoto's head snapped in her direction, eyes wide. From behind Tsuna, Gokudera's tingers tightened around his arms. The crowd of students also seemed to be taken aback by this, turning towards one another in silent whispers._

" _Wha-" Yamamoto started but Tsuna didn't want to hear it._

 _Not yet at least._

" _At least, that's what my mother told me." she shrugged her shoulder, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she kept the athlete's eyes on her. "I was shoved down a flight of stairs my first week in middle school and lost three years worth of memory."_

A three year memory gap. A scary prefect that proclaims he's got a relationship with Tsuna but not one she remembers…

The two boys shared a look of reluctant understanding.

Just what could that relationship have been?

For some reason, Gokudera felt like he didn't like this turn of events.

But for now, all they could do was follow the angry prefect up the steps and into the cabin, hoping that they would finally get to what they really care there for.

* * *

Entering the living room, the three teenagers were shocked to find that there were already some people in there. Walking around, setting up high-tech looking computers and other equipment that at the very least two of them had never seen before in their life.

Quickly, the three teenagers were on guard.

Hibari with his tonfa out, Gokudera with his guns, and Yamamoto with his bat raised above his head, and as he was the tallest of the three boys, it was also over their heads.

They didn't have to do anything though.

With a light chuckle, Reborn pushed himself through the week wall the boys had created, walking right into the room with no care in the world.

"When did you people get to Japan?" he asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

From within the small group, a tall man with a thick head of wavy golden blonde hair dressed in expensive clothing styled to look like some sort of preppy skater walked out, his admittedly handsome face forming a large, attractive grin.

He studied the boys behind Reborn as he walked, his eyes notably lingering on the shortest one of the bunch.

They boy in question clenched his hand around the piece of metal.

Once the man was standing right in front of Reborn, the two men suddenly started chuckling.

Smiling in familiarity, the two men clasped hands in greeting.

Reborn threw a glance over the blonde strangers shoulder.

"How's the Warden fairing?" he asked, his voice bearing a joking tone Gokudera especially, had never heard him use before.

The still working men looked up at his question, their overall demeanor relaxing considerably, and some of them even breaking out into humorous smiles.

"Absolutely horrible." one of them answered, though he laughed as he said it.

"Completely useless." another joined in, laughing along with the first one.

"A total loser." a third one chimed, trying to sound serious before he too broke out into laughter, soon followed by the laughter of the rest of the people in the room.

The three teens lowered their weapons, looking around in complete confusion.

"Shut the fuck up you bastards!" the blonde screamed at them, but everyone could tell that he wasn't being serious, and it just caused the men to laugh even harder.

A hand on his shoulder made the blonde turn back towards Reborn.

"You sure got here quickly." said man proclaimed. "I only called you about an hour ago."

"I was already on my way." he stated bringing up his hand and snapping his fingers.

Immediately, everything fell completely silent.

One of the men dropped everything he was carrying, which thankfully didn't look too delicately, and snatched a rather thick folder up from the cushioned and pelt covered log couch propped up under the largest window in the room.

With no time spared, the man handed the folder to the blond.

The blonde in turn, then handed the folder to Reborn.

Taking it, Reborn immediately propped it open in his hands, carefully making sure that not one single paper would fall out from it.

"I'll do anything for my little sister." the blonde declared, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

That seemed to be the last straw for Hibair.

Eyes narrowed to steel gray slits, he marched up to the two men, almost prying himself in between the two men and proceeded to stare up at the blonde in unveiled anger.

This scene could have looked particularly funny as the blonde was almost two heads taller than Hibari, towering over him when he tilted his head downward to look him in the eye.

"Just who are you?" the prefect demanded, his tonfa having long since mysteriously vanished.

The man had the nerve to chuckle, eyes running over Hibari's stature.

"Name's Dino Cavallone." he answered, cocking his head in Reborn's direction as the man himself wandered off, eyes submerged in the folder, furiously turning the pages. "I'm Reborn's previous student. Which make Tsuna my little sister through tutelage." his eyes drifted up towards the ceiling. "I've never actually met her, but I would like to."

Hibari let out a low growl, looking as though he was ready to attack the man head on.

From back at the door, Gokudera and Yamamoto watched the scene with mixed feelings.

They didn't trust Dino, that was a given, but he was already helping them along the way to save their friend and classmate, so they couldn't exactly say anything against him.

Once again, they wondered about the nature of the relationship Hibari had had with Tsuna. What kind of feelings did he harbor for her to make her act like that in front of the man that just declared that she was practically his sister?

Not knowing what else they could do, they shared a look, knowing they would probably find out at a later date.

Right now, they had other things to worry about.

Going through the folder, Reborn made his way to the kitchen table.

Slamming it shut, he allowed it to flop down on one end of the tabletop before walking over to the other hand, putting his hand on the wood as he looked out over the other members of the male gender that had seemingly forgotten everything about why they were there.

"Gather round." he called out, snapping the boys out of what they were doing.

Quickly, they followed his order, Dino taking his place where Reborn had discarded the folder.

"Dino." Reborn spoke up, making said blonde look up at him. "Tell us what you've found."

Dino nodded once, picking up the folder.

"We are dealing with a small group of hire-able Roamers." two pairs of eyebrows rose in confusion at the strange wording. "Professional dirty workers hired whenever someone wants something done but cannot afford to do it themselves for multiple reasons." Dino looked extremely appalled at his own words. "The hired muscle for the cowards of the world."

"Get on with it." Reborn ordered.

Dino jumped at the sound of his voice, but he quickly collected himself.

"My clan have been following them for some time now, wanting to catch them in the act in order to take them down for good." a small smirk played on his lips. "And now we finally have the opportunity." he popped open the file in his hands, riffling through the papers.

The teenagers shared a glance.

It was strange to be a part of something so serious a military esque.

"They call themselves, "the riptide association" and currently consist of five main members." Dino continued, removing one of the pictures from the folder and throwing it onto the table.

"Bone breaker." he said, giving the alias to the man in the picture.

It was a surprisingly short man, but visibly strong in his wrestlers built. His hair was shaved bald, sported a rather large and obviously repeatedly broken nose, and he had a spike piercing in his lower lip. The entirety of the right side of his head was decorated by a large brightly colored Chinese dragon, making his button-sized eyes look even smaller in comparison.

In the picture, he wore a bright orange hoodie, blue jeans and red sleakers, appearing as though he was just taking a jog out during the night.

"Known for next to pulverizing the bones of his victims whilst they are still in their bodies, and alive." Dino explained. No one noticed how Yamamoto's face whitened slightly at the description, but he violently shoved it back down.

Now was not the time to be frightened.

Dino picked a second picture from the folder, throwing it on top of the first one.

"The worm."

This time the picture was of a very tall, lanky young man with bright yellow hair carefully styled into a buzz cut, square glasses rested on his nose and a small cross dangled from his right ear. He had rather large, bright blue eyes and skin so pale it was almost white.

In the picture, he was wearing a deep purple button-up shirt and black slacks, sitting in a cafe with a laptop folded out in front of him, looking very concentrated on what he was doing.

"Skilled hacker and sniper."

Another picture landed on the table.

"Firestarter."

A man just a bit taller than the average with a thick head of straight red hair, latte colored skin speckled with freckles all over the place, he had this maniacal look on his face.

In the picture, he was standing outside of a library, posing against the statue outside of it dressed in a bright green T-shirt, Bermuda shorts and converse sneakers, he looked the perfect picture of a cocky psychopath.

"Revered pyrotechnical arsonist to those who like things like that, with an equally explosive temperament according to the survivors."

This did not sit well with the teens.

Another picture.

"The Cournal."

A medium tall intimidating man sporting large rippling muscles and a serious expression. His skin was tanned and his long dark blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, the bangs brushing over deep brown eyes.

In the picture, he was standing on what appeared to be a bridge, staring out over a troupe of training soldiers all dressed in military pants and black tank-tops. The man himself, was wearing black sweatpants and a light blue tank-top, but two distinctive military badges hung from his neck.

"Ex army official, expert marksman and martial artist. Known for being able to extract information from _anyone_."

The last picture joined the others.

"And the Poisoned Scorpion."

Suddenly, Gokudera's eyes widened in absolute horror.

With the speed of a striking snake, the delinquent snatched up one of the pictures from the table, holding it up in the air in front of him as he stared at it in disbelief.

It was the picture of a young woman in her early twenties, her thick head of long wavy haired died puce, her bright olive green eyes outlines with thick dark make-up and full lips colored a deep purple in the picture.

She was siting at a table in a bar, her legs crossed showing off her high heeled black stiletto pumps, dressed in a tight-fitting black sleeveless dress that barely reached an inch below her thigh by the looks of it, leaving her long, slender legs for the whole world to see. She had a martini glass in hand, smirking seductively at whomever had taken the picture.

Gokudera's hands suddenly started shaking something terrible.

The other men had locked their eyes on him the second he had snatched the picture from the table.

"What's wrong?" Reborn asked, frowning at the delinquents reaction.

Gokudera just kept trembling, the disbelief clear in his eyes.

"It can't be her..." he whispered in an almost broken manner.

* * *

Tsuna was legitimately fighting to stay awake.

Her food had most definately been spiked with something, and it was slowly, but surely, zapping her strength.

Why would they bother spiking her food?

Were they taking precautions because they had no idea what she was capable of?

In that case, maybe they were just a bit smarter than they looked.

The woman had gone back to fiddling with her phone, now with a much more relaxed demeanor to her, leaning against the concrete wall with her legs crossed in front of her.

At the one point, she had taken to twirl her hair around her index finger, eyes firmly locked onto the screen in her hands.

Tsuna's eyes fell on her fingers, long and bony, but graceful.

She moved her eyes up to her face, taking in her features as they were lit up by the screen on her phone.

Sharp yet gentle cheekbones brought distinct diamond shape to what would have been an inverted triangle, her full lips curving into a sensual cupid's bow, her eyes naturally slanted over artistically arched eyebrows, and of all things, a lightly upturned nose.

Wait…

The woman… she was reminding her of someone.

Not just in some of her features, but also in a few of the habits Tsuna had seen her display during the hours the two had been stuck in the same room.

But it couldn't be… it had to be some sort of freak coincidence.

But what if it wasn't?

Chains jiggling, Tsuna brushed her hair behind her ear, squared her shoulders and took a deep breath, preparing herself for the question she was about to ask.

"Do you know one Gokudera Hayato?" Tsuna asked, whatever drug running through her system making it impossible for her to hold back the thought.

The woman stiffened at her words, her head snapping in her direction.

Suddenly, she saw standing, staring down at Tsuna with a very guarded expression.

"How do you know that name!" she demanded, her breathing heavy as she stared at the girl chained up against the wall.

Tsuna could practically feel the guarded fear radiating off of the woman's being.

Tsuna shifted slightly where she were sitting.

"He's my best friend." she answered calmly, her face portraying the honesty in her words.

"You're lying!" the woman screamed, pointing an accusing finger at her. "Hayato doesn't have any friends!" she was obviously very convinced of this fact if the narrowing of her eyes were anything to go by.

Tsuna pinned the woman with a look.

"Silver hair cut at about mid-neck, olive green eyes, pale skin, structures over a swimmers body." she said calmly, watching as the woman's eyes slowly started to widen. "Aristocratic upbringing but ran away for a reason he's refused to tell me, moving to Japan a few months ago for another reason he won't tell me." she looked to the side in mild irritation before she looked back at the woman. "Hot tempered and socially suspicious, a bit self-destructive yet chivalrous, a raised gentleman, and _very_ intelligent."

The woman was openly staring at Tsuna now, horror etched into her beautiful features.

She stumbled backwards, her hips almost crashing into the edge of the table. Her hands slammed down on the tabletop, looking as though that was the only thing keeping her upright.

Trembling, she put her one hand over her mouth.

Deciding to be just the bit gentler, Tsuna lowered her voice a little bit.

"How do you know Gokudera-kun?"

Slowly, the woman looked at Tsuna again.

"He's my brother."

Tsuna could feel her eyes widening.

"My younger half-brother."

* * *

The four males in the room stared openly at Gokudera, all sporting a different reaction.

Reborn was intrigued, slowly rubbing his chin in thought.

Dino was bewildered, his eyes moving between the men standing around the table, trying to gain some form of reassurance that he hadn't just heard what he'd heard.

Hibari looked absolutely murderous, his fingers twitching for the tonfa he had collapsed and stuffed up his sleeves.

Yamamoto stood as frozen, eyes open wide in shock as his bat clattered loudly to the floor.

"Y-you're related to Tsuna's kidnapper?" the athlete asked, finally managing to snap the other members of the male gender out of whatever trances they had been put under.

Gokudera grumbled loudly, his fingers tightening around the photograph, crumbling it in the corners.

"It's not exactly something I'm proud off." he growled, looking at the athlete from over the photograph of the twenty-something woman. "I haven't even seen her for the past five years." he couldn't help but to look at the picture again, taking in every detail of his sister.

Reborn pinned Gokudera with an emotionless stare.

"What would your sisters motivations be for committing kidnapping?" all eyes turned towards him at his calm words. "Does she normally do things like this?"

A long sigh escaped Gokudera's lips.

"While I haven't seen her in a long time, I haven't been able to escape the news about her." he growled, shaking his head violently.

Bringing up his hand, he violently ruffled his head.

Finally, he looked up at the other men.

"My sister has always been a bit… loose." he started, letting out a long breath. "And both her and I, have always wanted to become Initiates." two pairs of eyebrows furred together in confusion, whilst the other two got more pondering expressions. Gokudera sighed again, this time in irritation. "She has always been a bit more obsessive about it though, wanting to do anything in order to get into a Clan, didn't matter which one, she just wanted to be apart of it all."

Letting the picture fall back onto the table, Gokudera brazed his arms on top of it.

"From what I heard, she even tried to sleep her way there once, but when she didn't get her way, she poisoned the man." he glanced down at the picture. "She's not called "Poisoned scorpion" for nothing you know." he growled loudly. "She will do _anything_ to get her way."

He looked up, glancing at each and every man around the table, giving them a serious but guilty expression.

"My family have been Flares for generation." he sighed heavily. "My sister was the first to become a Roamer."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Hibari asked, his patience finally beginning to run out.

Dino just chuckled at his reaction.

Hibari shot him a furious glare, but the man just kept on chuckling.

"We don't have the time to explain." Reborn stated, putting his hands on top of the table as he looked over the pictures with much greater interest than before. "The situation is bad enough as it is."

Forcefully calming themselves down, the other males followed Reborn's example.

"We're dealing with greedy Roamers." he stated, picking up the pictures and looking through them in greater detail.

He may be good at reading physical capabilities through pictures, but one can only do so much without knowing the general personality of a person, that can really tip the scale in a battle if you can't read your opponents character.

It was at this moment that he realized just how much easier it would have been had Tsuna been with them.

He groaned at the thought.

"Greedy Roamers are impulsive and unpredictable in what they are willing to do in order to become an Initiate." slowly, realization began to dawn on the teenager's faces.

Reborn gave them a firm nod.

"Tsuna's life may very well be in danger."

* * *

 **A/N: In honor of my own, darling half-sister Molly, I felt like I had to make clear that even if you are only half-way related, you can still see similarities in one another.**

 **I hope you like the chapter. I want to have the last four finished before I continue uploading chapters on a regular basis, so that can be this Tuesday or Friday, or even the Tuesday that follows the next one, I can't be sure.**

 **Anyway. Please tell me what you think, whatever you may think. Your opinions keep me motivated to keep writing you know!**

 **Until next time.**

 **Love.**

 **Me.**


	22. Target 22

**A/N: I just realized that Sunday next week is this story's anniversary!**

 **Like… OH MY GOD! I have been working on this story for a year and I'm almost finished!**

 **That is like, literally, unheard of for me.**

 **Anyway, my beautiful, beautiful humans, we're only six chapters away from the finish line, I'm only two. And I'm now well over 800 followers and 700 favorites, like… I can't even express how absolutely touched I am, especially when I read your reviews.**

 **For a moment there, I was fully set on writing on something else, but it was as though you people SENSED that I was being lured away from what I should be writing on and I got a few absolutely WONDERFUL reviews that brought me back on track.**

 **So thank you:**

 **Breath after Death (hope your half sister is as wonderful as mine, and thank you)**

 **7 (wish granted)**

 **KioshiUshima (there will me more termology in the future ps. Review made me hyper)**

 **Poetic Justice (I… I just can't** _ ***sobbing uncontrollably in happiness*)**_

 **And so, because I'm feeling generous, and extremely thankful,** **here is the continuation.**

 **Please.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2** **2** **:**

 **The love of an older sister**

The woman had taken to pacing around the room.

She'd been at it for the past couple of minutes, constantly waling in a circle. She had been going at it for so long that Tsuna could even see a visible circle in the ground created from the lack of dust she had kicked out of the way with her constant walking.

Tsuna was legitimately worrying about those heels she was wearing.

The woman had her perfectly manicured hand pressed over her mouth, index finger twitching against her cheek.

During this entire time, Tsuna had just sat in silence, watching as the woman walked turn, after turn, after turn, after turn.

She could practically see the wheels turning in her head.

She must have ruined something by revealing that she knew her brother.

Not just knowing him, close to him.

The woman ruffled her hair for what must have been the twentieth time in the last ten minutes, growing all the more irritated as the time passed on.

There was something she couldn't decide on… but what was it?

Suddenly, the door crashed open, making the two women inside jump.

They had been so caught up in their own thoughts that they hadn't even heard the jiggling of keys before the door swung open.

The red haired man burst inside, this time empty handed.

Having been startled out of her thoughts, the woman turned towards the man.

"Tony… what are you-" she didn't get to finish her sentence as… Tony? Had obviously forgotten everything about her existence.

He stormed into the room, shoving the woman aside as he marched right up to Tsuna.

The woman crashed painfully to the ground, groaning as she turned towards the man that had just sparked her anger.

She turned just in time to see Tony pause in front of Tsuna, panting as he looked down at her before his hand shot out, fingers clenching around the messy tendrils of hair. She watched as Tsuna's face, caked in dried blood and splattered by bruises, contorted in semi-concealed pain as Tony gave the back of her head a short pull.

He quickly followed the pull with a violent yank, forcing the young woman to her shaking feet.

She hasn't been standing on them for some time after all.

The chains rattled as Tsuna brought up her arms to clutch at Tony's wrists, using her own muscles to lighten the force of which he used to pull her up.

The man crouched slightly, bringing his face on level with Tsuna's pain ridden one.

Their eyes came inches away from one another.

His eyes spoke of absolute murder.

The man gave Tsuna a violent shake, causing her to no longer be able to control the sounds of pain, keeping them locked up in her throat.

They escaped her as she was repeatedly smashed up against the concrete wall.

Finally, he brought her battered face back towards his.

"What is your Clan planning?" he asked, his voice bearing a tony of absolute fury as he stared down at her.

A confused expression managed to form through Tsuna's obvious pain.

"What are you talking about?"

"DON'T LIE TO ME!" He screamed, shaking her once again.

Behind them, the woman slowly pulled herself off of the ground, eyes never once leaving Tony's back as her expression morphed into a frown.

The man grabbed a light hold on Tsuna's upper arms, brutally shoving her up against the wall a few feet off of the ground, making her legs dingle in the air as she let out a pained whimper.

"YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME!?" He screamed, slamming Tsuna up once again, this time making the back of her head crash into the concrete, making her sight blurry. "DO YOU?!" He once again put his face up close to hers, making his breath hit her in the face.

She probably would have gotten terribly sick at the smell of it, but she was in way too much pain for her to even properly register the smell.

Tony lowered his voice into a slight whisper.

"Let me tell you something." he said, making sure that the two of them were almost nose-to-nose. "You're in no position to do so."

That, was the final straw for the woman.

"Tony!" she called out, her voice filled with the amount of annoyance she was feeling at the moment.

Thankfully, the man responded to her call.

He turned to the woman over his shoulder.

The woman let out a long sigh, ruffling her hair.

"The girl knows nothing." she said, putting her hands on her hips as she stared intently at the man in front of her, her face clear of any form of deception. "Apparently, her tutor had chosen to keep everything sans the nature and theory of the flame a secret from her." her eyes fell pointedly on Tsuna as she was still pressed up against the wall. "She knows nothing."

Face shocked, the man's grip on Tsuna loosened, allowing her to fall back to the ground, though she remained sanding, pressing herself up as close to the concrete as possible.

For a long moment, the man just stared at the woman in open shock, then, slowly, he turned his attention back to Tsuna, allowing his eyes to roam over her lightly trembling frame.

Suddenly, he started laughing. A high, borderline maniacal laugh. He even threw his head back, allowing himself to laugh at the full capacity of his lungs.

Tsuna wouldn't be surprised if the whole building heard him.

Finally, he calmed down enough to once again grab her by the forearm, pushing her up against the wall. Only this time, he was allowing her to keep her feet on the ground.

"Is it nice to be ignorant?" Tony asked after a moment of silence.

"It most definitely isn't." Tsuna answered quickly, almost under her breath.

A smirk played on the man's lips.

"Pity." he said.

Slowly, the man allowed his eyes to wander over her body.

He laughed again, this time, only slightly.

"I can't believe it." he said, his hands tightening on her arms. "You're so tiny."

He looked up into her eyes.

"A fairy like you, with a position like yours..." he sounded as though he was pondering on something. "It almost doesn't make any sense."

His eyes fell on the zipper to her sweater, which she had lowered slightly in the warm stuffy air in the room. Now she seriously regretted that choice as she watched the man's eyes slowly, but surely, darken with desire.

He could feel her blood running cold at the expression.

Slowly, he moved his one hand from where he had been pinning her wrist to the wall, running his fingertips over her shoulder before looking up into her eyes as his fingers closed around the key to her zipper.

Slowly, he began pulling it down, eyes once again moving down to his hand, and thus not noticing how she was equally slowly growing paler, and paler.

"You're too innocent for this life." he muttered, almost to himself, eyes still following the slow, gradual journey of the zipper. "Untouched by everything.

With what little control Tsuna still had over her own mind, Tsuna mentally scoffed at his words. There was no way she could be considered "untouched" in the state she was in right now, covered with cuts, blood, and bruises that she was sure would plague her for days.

Desperately, she wished the zipper would jam.

Unlucky for her, it didn't.

She felt the slight tug in the sweater as the zipper reached it's end.

She felt the fabric part over her chest, causing the slightly chilly air to his her torso quite suddenly, making a shiver run down her spine.

Behind them, the woman clenched her hands into tight fists, her nails almost digging into the palms of her hand.

She did not like what she was currently witnessing.

Tsuna's breaths started to come out quick and heavy, not really giving it the time to circulate her body as the man let go of her, taking a step backwards to properly study her.

Tsuna cursed the tight-fitting tank-top to the high heavens. It was clinging to her figure like a second skin, leaving little of her up to the imagination.

She watched as the man licked his lips in obvious anticipation, and before she knew it, she had his hands running up and down the sides of her torso, making her skin itch something terrible from the contact.

The woman's eyebrows drew together into a frown.

"What are you doing?" she asked, voice demanding.

Tony paused in his actions, turning his head to look at the woman over his shoulder.

"They won't hold it against me." he laughed. "She's too appealing to leave alone for too long." he turned his head back to Tsuna, his sneer intensive and his dark eyes narrowed.

"The girl is supposed to be unharmed!" the woman growled, her own eyes narrowing, only in anger in stead of intent.

The man chuckled at her words, looking back at her.

"A tumble can hardly be harmful."

The woman's expression darkened in infuriated disagreement, arms crossing over her chest as Tony turned his attention back to Tsuna.

Still grinning, the man grabbed hold of the hem of Tsuna's tank-top, starting to slowly move it upwards to show off her pale skin, continuing upwards to expose more of her abdomen until he suddenly stopped, eyebrows constricting into a small frown.

"What do we have here?" he asked, moving his thumb over a certain, small, roughly circular, bulky part of her stomach. "Did someone try to get to you before we did?" he asked, prying his eyes away from the marred skin to look her in the eye.

The feel of him touching _that_ scar, caused something to snap inside of Tsuna.

Suddenly, and violently, she began to thrash around in his hold, yanking her self out of his hands, kicking and punching against whatever part of his body she was able to reach.

If only she wasn't chained to the wall, then she would have been out of there.

A pair of hands landing on her shoulders slammed her painfully against the wall.

"Stop struggling." Tony demanded, moving his face in closer to hers.

Of course she didn't stop.

Who ever actually stops struggling when someone tells you to?

She started kicking again, and this time, since the idiot was standing with his legs slightly parted to get a better balance in order to hold her down, not to mention be able to lower himself down enough to be on level with her face, she was able to land one solid blow in that particular spot that carry the seeds of life.

Well… not anymore.

With a surprisingly high squeak, the man fell to his knees in front of her, hands clutching at his crushed crotch.

Making good use of the situation, Tsuna put one foot on the man's shoulder before raising her arms over her head, the chains jiggling as she did so, before violently crashing the metal shackles over the man's head.

Before he had the chance to fall to the ground, she kicked him away from her, sending him crashing to the floor a few feet away from her.

She didn't know how it was possible, but the man was still awake.

Grumbling loudly, he heaved himself onto the ground, shaking himself before he viciously turned around towards Tsuna, practically seething in anger.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, making Tsuna briefly wonder why no one was already running in their direction as the door was still very much open.

The man breathed heavily as he took a staggering step towards the chained girl.

"You just made your biggest mistake!" he growled, preparing himself to launch at Tsuna.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow.

A manicured hand landed on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

Confused, Tony turned around towards the owner of the hand, coming face to face with the woman, looking at him with half-lidded eyes.

Tony's eyes grew dark.

The woman raised her other hand, gently placing it to his cheek, slowly stroking her thumb over his cheekbones as she gave him a seductive smile, her dark red lips curling in an inviting manner.

"Do you really think a little girl would be able to satisfy you?" the woman asked, moving her hand to intertwine with Tony's bright red locks, her voice bearing a sensual note to it that only served to make the man's eyes darken even further. Her other hand moved over his shoulder.

Tony's eyes flashed to her mouth as she locked her lower lip between her teeth.

The woman locked her eyes with Tony's.

"Don't you think..." she was whispering now, keeping her voice sensual. "I would be able to satisfy you on a _much_ greater level?"

Tsuna couldn't help but to frown at the woman's words and actions.

What was she doing?

There was no way a woman such a her would find someone like _him_ attractive. Tsuna didn't even think he was all that attractive, and yet there the woman was.

Tsuna really didn't like being left out of something.

Having completely forgotten that Tsuna was even there, Tony's eyes darkened to almost black as the woman moved the hand having previously been on his shoulder around to cup the back of his neck, moving closer to press herself up against his chest.

The woman was almost as tall as Tony in her heels, beating him with just about two inches, but Tony didn't seem to mind this, he was far too preoccupied in his own mind.

Finally, the woman pressed her blood-red lips up against his in what Tsuna could clearly tell was fake anticipation, making her even more confused as to what exactly was going on.

What would the woman achieve by doing this?

Before Tsuna knew what was going on, the two adults in front of her had engaged in a full-blown make-out session, lips battling furiously and the distinct sloppy sound of tongues intertwining filling the room to the point where Tsuna felt the blood rush to her face.

Quickly, she turned her head away from the scene, her hands covering her ears as she tried to block out what the two new adults were doing.

The woman glanced at Tsuna from around the side of Tony's head.

Tony wrapped his arms around the woman, his one arm around her thin waist and the other reached up to entangle his fingers into her long locks, furiously fisting her hair as he slowly sank deeper and deeper into his lust.

Without the man knowing, the woman allowed her one hand to slide down from behind his neck, running down the front of his chest before she allowed her fingers to slide down into her own back pocket, the man obviously being to lost in her lips to notice that she was doing anything.

Slowly, the woman pulled out a thin cylinder the length of a syringe.

Seeing the glass glimmer in the light of the open door, Tsuna turned her attention back towards the kissing "couple".

Silently, and expertly, the woman swiftly removed a cap on the cylinder, revealing a long, thin, needle, the tip dripping a deep purple liquid onto the concrete floor.

Eyes wide open and eyebrows furrowed into the most murderous look, the woman raised her arm, allowing her wrist to brush over Tony's arm until she reached his neck.

Violently, she jammed the needle into his jugular vein.

Tony let out a sharp scream, yanking himself away from the woman, stumbling backwards as he stared at her, giving her a heated glare.

He yanked the syringe out of his neck, but he was already too late.

Groaning lightly, the man clutched at the opening in his neck, his veins already slowly starting to turn purple.

Finally, he collapsed to the ground, his limbs twitching, his mouth frothing for a long moment, before he lost all movement. One couldn't even tell if he was breathing.

Silence fell over the room as Tsuna stared at the man in absolute horror.

Calm as ever, the woman walked straight up to the man, the clicking from her heels echoing over the room as she crouched down next to Tony's body.

With no wasted movement, she fished out a key-chain from his pockets.

She turned to the door, marching right over and silently closing it, forcing the room to once again rely on nothing but the light of the lantern.

She didn't lock it though.

Turning back from the door, the woman focused on the key-chain.

Quickly, she began flicking through the different keys.

With each key she studied, she muttered what she probably believed the keys to be for.

"Door… Door… Car… Door… Locker… Safe… Door… Door… Door… Car… Diary?" the last one was said with a mix of bewilderment, and confusion.

The key for the shackles, was not one of them.

Angrily, the woman threw the keys into the corner of the room, the rattling echoing across the walls as they bounced over the floor.

Still horrified, Tsuna kept her eyes pinned on the man.

Finally, she turned towards the woman.

"What did you do to him?" there was a small quiver in her voice.

"He's just knocked out." the woman answered with a nonchalant air around her, pulling a pocket mirror from her pocket, frowning as she picked at her lipstick, which had smeared slightly from the make-out session.

Tsuna's eyes turned to the man on the ground.

"Why did he come here in the first place?"

The woman threw a disgusted look at the man, returning the mirror to her pocket.

"They're probably having trouble getting contact." she answered, still with the same nonchalant demeanor around her.

"What do you mean by that?" Tsuna asked slowly.

The woman turned back to her.

"We were paid to kidnap you." Tsuna's eyes widened. She had been told those words before, but there was just something about the woman saying them that made it sound all the more serious. Then again, she was just being thrown into a wall, wasn't she? "We were told to keep you locked up until we've made contact."

After a while, Tsuna couldn't help but to frown.

She couldn't, for the life of her, think of the one person who would care about her life enough that they would care if she was publicly executed over camera.

"Who were you trying to contact?" she found herself asking before she could stop herself.

The woman froze in her pacing, looking at Tsuna as she slowly allowed her arm to fall back to her side.

"Vongola Nono, Warden Timoteo DiLeone."

At the sound of the name, Tsuna felt herself fill up with a sense of warmth, even though the title given to the name made no sense to her and the name didn't ring a bell.

Okay, that is a lie.

The name rang with familiarity in her ears, but she couldn't for the life of her remember where she had heard it from before.

But a DiLeone... A relative of hers?

Had she met him sometime in her earlier years?

A couple of more questions were added to the pile inside of her head.

Grumbling lightly, the woman picked up her phone again, furiously pressing the buttons to look something up, growling even more once she finally got it up.

A second later, the phone had been swiftly stuffed into her pocket.

She turned towards Tsuna with a mix of desperation and irritation in her eyes.

"I need to get you out of here." she stated, moving towards the younger female.

Tsuna frowned in confusion.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, following the other as she moved.

The woman settled down in front of her, her hand reaching down to her belt and unhooked one of the many hairpins she kept pinned there in case of emergencies.

Quickly, she took Tsuna's hand in hers.

With hairpin in hand, she turned the younger girl's wrist around, carefully studying the shackles until her eyes finally locked onto the keyhole. Furrowing great concentration, she inserted the pin into the lock, moving it around, creating small noises of metal clicking against one another.

After a short while, she glanced up at Tsuna, her eyes glittering with emotion.

"Something happened to my brother when he was ten." she said, eyes returning to the lock. She must be having some sort of problem with it if the frown on her face was anything to go by. "Something that completely ruined his ability to trust other people. Breaking his heart." her smooth voice hitched a little as she spoke.

She really loves her brother then…

The woman removed the pin from the keyhole, frowning down at it. Growling lightly, she put the pin back where she had taken it, and by the time she brought her hands back, there was another pin in her hand, this time of a different shape than the other.

Returning to picking the lock, the woman let out a long, sad sigh.

"I don't think my brother even trusts me anymore."

Tsuna looked at the woman for a long moment, watching her concentrating on the work at hand, but Tsuna could see the sadness in her eyes.

As the woman had spoken, several questions were answered for Tsuna.

Questions she hadn't even known she had.

Gokudera had been very distant from everyone around for as long as she had known of his existence, looking at everyone with distrust and sometimes even screaming at the girls coming onto him because they were too forward.

He had only ever started to trust her after she'd helped him get away from a beat down, and even then he'd been suspicious.

He hadn't warmed up to her until after an interrogation.

She hadn't had any ulterior motive for helping him, he trusted her because she didn't want anything from him.

The woman growled in frustration, snapping Tsuna out of her thoughts.

Looking at her shackle, she found that the pin had someone gotten stuck in the lock.

The woman sighed, looking up into Tsuna's eyes.

"I love my brother." she said with great determination. "I don't care if he thinks I don't but I'm not going to take you away from him when I can do something about it." she reached out, putting a hand to Tsuna's cheek in a form of affection that Tsuna suspected the woman had been keeping bottled up inside of her. Saving it for her brother. "You are, after all. The first person in ages he obviously trusts."

* * *

 **A/N: And there you have it folks!**

 **Alright, I'm planning for three chapters to be uploaded this week, though I don't know which days I'll be uploading them, but I do know they will be up before Sunday.**

 **Please tell me what you think. KEEP ME ON TRACK YOU MARVELOUS PEOPLE, I WANT TO FINISH THIS THING!**

 **Love you all, you wonderful, beautiful, absolutely gorgeous humans.**

 **Showers of love.**

 **Me!**


	23. Target 23

**A/N: I… have made an error.**

 **Such a huge, gaping error that it simply cannot be ignored.**

 **I have caught myself having made a terribly, terrible mistake in terms of planning out a story.**

 **Even as I was writing, and with me having waited half a year before I kept uploading chapters, as such, I have planned out the world way past the point as I have described them in this story.**

 **So, as I was planning out the sequel… I caught on to the fact that, towards the end, nothing would any longer make sense where the very world was involved.**

 **If I wanted it to make sense again, I would either have to change the whole Arch, or I would have to rewrite this one. And I really, really, like what I have come up with for the sequel.**

 **Also, what I have planned out for the world, what you haven't yet been exposed to, is very interesting and I'm really hyped up about it.**

 **So I decided that I'm going to write them both. I'll write the sequel as I'm rewriting this one. Adding in my ideas, possibly making the story even longer than it was before, and including you people in on the much more detailed and fleshed out world that I have stored up inside my head that came into play first after I began uploading.**

 **That is my error.**

 **I do believe that the second Arch is going to be longer, I'm going to rename the fic, and hopefully, the rewritten version will become all the better than this version.**

 **Now the question is, should I keep this version up or will I write over it?**

 **Anyway, here is the chapter you have been waiting for.**

 **Please.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 23:**

 **Escape**

A car sped silently through an old, deserted part of Namimori.

Motor surprisingly silent, it pulled in to a stop in the shadow of a building close to a large, weathered, half-collapsed abandoned factory sporting large windows and a roof that had gigantic holes spread out over various areas.

It was a terribly unstable looking location that no one would dare go inside.

Which is why it would be the perfect location to hide a victim of kidnapping.

Swiftly, Reborn killed the engine.

"This is the place?" Gokudera asked, looking at the building barely noticeable around the corner.

"According to Dino it is." Reborn answered, eyes narrowing as he reached in under the dashboard, unlatching the specially crafted gun he had strapped underneath.

An annoyed sigh could be heard behind them as Reborn looked through the several magazines of bullets he was packing on him.

"How can we even trust that blonde?" the eighteen year old asked, voice practically dripping with the hate he wasn't even bothering to try and hide.

Reborn removed his eyes from his bullets.

Hibari had developed a strong dislike towards Dino the second he had laid eyes on him, for reasons that none of the others could even begin to imagine. Dino on the other hand, had behaved as though Hibari's obvious hatred was little more than a newborn baby screaming.

It's unfortunate and all that a baby would cry, but as it is a newborn, the only emotion you can feel through the screams is absolute joy.

Reborn glanced over his shoulder at the gray eyed boy.

"Dino and his men are currently working hard back at the cabin." he explained, sounding as though he had already repeated the same phrase a hundred times, and who was to say he hadn't. "They are stopping the enemy from making contact with the Vongola Warden." eyes cold as steel, Reborn jammed the magazine in place, releasing the safety on his gun.

Behind him, the teenagers stiffened.

"They are probably the only one's keeping Tsuna alive right now."

A light groan in irritation sounded from behind him, letting him know that Reborn had won the argument.

As usual.

Hiding his victorious smirk, Reborn turned around to face the teenagers.

"You boys still remember the plan?" he asked, his one eyebrow raised as if daring the teenagers to contradict him.

With a groan and an eye roll, Hibari threw the door open, and walked out.

For a long moment, the car was filled with nothing but silence.

"At least he put the vest on." Reborn stated with a small, pleased smirk on his face. He turned back towards the other teens, looking at their annoyed expressions.

They had only been in the same room for a little over a half an hour before their plan had been completed, and the two boys had already become completely used to Hibari's lone-wolf attitude, and learned to be annoyed by it.

He whistled, making the boys turn towards him.

"Time to go." he said, getting out of the car, closely followed by the boys.

* * *

Hibair stalked towards the front of the factory with long, determined strides, tonfas already drawn and ready at his sides, just waiting to be raised against his opponents.

Looking up at the factory, steel gray eyes caught on to the shadows moving in the large windows.

Hi eyes narrowed as the sounds of rapidly approaching footsteps reached his ears.

The men filled out in front of him just as he reached a wide open area in front of the factory, the area for the trucks to load up on whatever it was that the workers had been making in this large building. Though by the smell of things… it could have been a brewery.

At the sight of the black dressed, bullet-proof vest wearing men, Hibari allowed himself to let out a long, carnivorous growl.

Some of the men pulled out guns, sniper rifles, and a few of them even readied what looked like grenades and other explosives.

Hibari, was not impressed.

"If you knew that was best for you..." he spoke, keeping his voice low, but his tone still echoed across the weathered walls surrounding them, allowing the men to hear his every word. "You will return the Little Rabbit to her family."

Some of the men actually raised their eyebrows at these words.

Obviously, they had no idea what he meant by "little rabbit".

Idiotic herbivores.

Eyebrow twitching, Hibari launched at the men.

Immediately, the sounds of gunfire filled the air.

* * *

The woman gave a thurough yank on the rope she had expertly wrapped around the unconscious body of the man she had so "delightfully" declared to really be named Tony.

Tsuna really didn't want to know how the woman seemed to know exactly how to position the body and how to tie the rope in order to ensure that the man wouldn't be able to either talk or move by the time he woke up.

Where had she gotten the rope?

No, she didn't need to know that right now...

Where had she gotten the cream colored gag?

Having finished tying the man up, the woman propped the man up against the wall, letting him lean against it in a much more restrained manner than the one in which they had forced Tsuna into when they had first put her into the room.

Deeming her work to be done, the woman got off of the ground, brushing off her hands from the dirt she was sure had gotten on them during her work.

Now, onto the real problem.

Crossing her arms, the woman turned around towards Tsuna, her face contorted into a look of frustration as her gaze moved down to the shackles.

They were still there, tightly wrapped around the girl's wrist, only this time with the extra decoration of a hairpin lodged in the keyhole of one of them.

Now, this was a pickle.

She couldn't leave the room and go to her other partners when the Cornell had told her to guard the girl, they would immediately know something was up, and with Tony being nowhere in sight…

No, absolutely, no way.

She couldn't help the groan from leaving her throat.

"What's wrong?" Tsuna asked, finding the silence between the two of them to be uncomfortable.

Suddenly, a thought hit the woman.

The girl was a DiLeone.

DiLeone had a natural affinity for the hottest flames known to their kind, and metal most definitely was not resistant to heat. In fact, it absorbs it.

Maybe she could get the girl out after all.

"What is your medior." the woman asked, her voice striking into the previous silence with the ferocity of a striking scorpion.

However, this did not bring forth the desired reaction from the girl in front of her.

She frowned.

Not in suspicion, but in confusion.

"Handkerchief, water canteen, or knitted arm guards." the woman spoke again, obviously impatient. "Which one of them is your flame medior."

She'd hoped this would make the girl understand her, but no, she just looked more confused.

Of course, Tsuna knew what the items were.

She'd kept the handkerchief in her back pocket in case she needed to wipe off sweat, the canteen had been a thin soft plastic thing she'd kept in the inner pocket of her sweater to cool herself down when training. Only she had quickly realized that that wasn't going to work so she stopped filling it, and the last one had been a part of the training outfit that she had chosen to leave off because anything around her wrists made her antsy, though she'd kept them in the outer pocket of her sweater.

Why would the woman bring those things up?

She had no use for them.

Obviously, Tsuna was only making the woman all the more irritated, which actually served to make her look all the more like Gokudera when he was looking at any other human being than her.

So that was what it looked like when faced by it?

The woman growled again.

"What do you need to light your flames?!" she almost screamed right in Tsuna's face.

Immediately, a light of understanding lit up inside of Tsuna's head.

Not only did she now understand what the woman meant, but she now fully understood that their whole group really had kidnapped her without fully knowing what she was capable of. They didn't know about her unique talent.

Without really having to spend all that much time, Tsuna reached inside herself for her core, and released a steady flow of fire into her veins, dividing her mind to ensure that a part of her kept up the release of the flow.

Sure enough, like always, she felt herself grow calmer at the feel of the fires.

But not only that, the groggy feeling that had been hanging over her for what felt like hours began burning away as her veins flooded.

So she had been drugged after all?

Why hadn't she tried this before again?

Oh, yes… drugged…

Feeling the fire rushing through her body, Tsuna looked up at the woman.

"I don't need one."

For a split second, the woman appeared to be taken aback at Tsuna's response, then… the irritation returned.

Ruffling her hair, the woman let out a loud irritated growl.

"Everyone, needs a Medior!" she exclaimed in obvious anger, bending over to look down at Tsuna, obviously thinking that she knew much more than her.

And in a lot of aspects, she was perfectly right.

Tsuna still had no idea what many of the termology the woman had used through their hours locked up in the same room together meant, but there was one thing Tsuna knew for sure she knew better than the woman.

And that was her flames.

"Not everyone." she answered calmly, guiding the flames into her wrists, just under where the shackles were tightly wrapped around her skin.

She would have to go through with Reborn's training.

The one she had failed just before she had been kidnapped.

Even more annoyed, the woman turned away from Tsuna, her hands on her hips as she growled, bringing up a hand to put her fingernails between her teeth in thought.

She didn't bite on them, she just kept them there.

She's an ex nail-biter?

"What an idiot..." she woman muttered in disbelief.

The pressure was building within Tsuna's wrists, and so did her fear.

This time however, she brutally shoved that fear down. This wasn't like during the training where she was surrounded by trees and there was no real _need_ for Tsuna to activate her flames. Now, she was shackled in a concrete room, and she _needed_ to get out.

She encouraged the pressure in her wrists to build, waiting for longer than Reborn had told her to before, waiting until the internal heat was becoming unbearable.

The DiLeone, was actually beginning to feel the beginnings of a burning sensation underneath her skin.

Now was the time.

Taking a deep breath, but keeping her eyes open, Tsuna slowly allowed the barriers containing the flames to thin out, until, finally, there was nothing holding them back.

The flames gradually began to seep out from the skin, slipping out from under the shackles. At first, there were only a couple of flickers, but eventually, the flames grew stronger, and larger, the seeping fires became a constant flow, resembling more like the fire on a gas stove, only the color of the flame was a fright orange, a brightness that only grew once the metal surrounding her wrists began to glow along with it.

The more Tsuna focused on the fires, the larger they grew, and the further they spread. Soon, her entire hands were covered in the large flickering fires, throwing the room in an eerie light much stronger than the lantern could ever hope to be.

Tsuna watched with a small sense of satisfaction as the heat of the flames slowly managed to make the shackles loose their form.

Just what kind of metal were they made of to begin with?

Tsuna stared at the flames, unable to keep her fascination at bay anymore. They were just too beautiful to look at. Flickering with the familiar shape and speed of a gentle, controlled, camp fire, but even brighter than that.

It was strange to know that, the first time she had seen them, she had been terribly afraid of them, but now, she couldn't help but to look at them as though they were a part of her.

Because they were.

She had called them.

They were hers.

The metal was glowing bright hot, and not for the first time, Tsuna was glad that she couldn't actually feel the heat emanating from them.

The woman must have had her eyes closed, because it took a surprisingly long time before she noticed the drastic change in illumination of the room, with it being bright enough that she could practically see each individual crack in the concrete.

Slowly, she turned around, not even completely daring to see the source of the light.

However, she did look, and her eyes widened to the point it looked as though her eyes were going to fall out of her skull.

There she was.

The absolutely tiny idiot girl shackled to the wall, her bare hands completely engulfed in bright orange fire.

She could tell it was real too, she could feel the heat all the way from where she was standing.

"That… that's not possible..." the woman whispers in absolute shock.

Tsuna glanced at the woman over the glow of the fire, her eyes sarcastically begging her to try and prove that what she was currently witnessing, wasn't real.

* * *

Reborn was leading their small group through the area, stopping every once in a while to hide from the swarming black-clad hired arms as they tried to maneuver themselves towards the workers entrance for the factory.

With Hibari at the front of the factory, there weren't all that many guards surrounding the rest of the building, but a few of them could still be spotted lining the walls. But they weren't around for much longer with a quick shot from Reborn's silenced gun.

Of course, seeing that much death was hard on Yamamoto, but her locked away those emotions behind his narrowed eyes, his serious expression.

He was on a mission, and he would see to it that it succeeded.

They finally reached the back of the factory, and the large metal door set up within it.

Just like they had suspected, the door had a small metal box set up on the wall next to it.

A modern looking box being a black screen with glowing areas representing the buttons that would eventually allow the one with the password to disable the security system and unlock the door.

Immediately, Gokudera was all over the box.

Suddenly with a butterfly knife in hand, Gokudera expertly opened the box, revealing the wires and hard drives within the soft metal casings.

Making good use of his long fingers, Gokudera expertly picked at the wiring, using thin tools to pick at the hard drives until he finally deemed his work to be done and closed the box, settling it back in the exact same position as before, no sign of any tempering in sight.

The screen lit up in bright green.

 **ACCESS GRANTED**

Wasting no movements, Gokudera moved towards the large, rusty lock on the metal door, skillfully inserting the thin instruments and moving them around with a halfhearted concentrated expression, as though what he was doing wasn't even all that hard.

How many times has he done that before?

Unknowingly, Yamamoto's hand clenched around the handle of his bat.

Suddenly, a phone was held out in front of him.

Looking up, Yamamoto found himself looking at Reborn holding out his communication device in his face.

"Take it." the older man said.

At Yamamoto's confused expression, Reborn let out a long sigh.

"It's got the floor plan of the factory on it." he forced the device into Yamamoto's hand, immediately turning to unscrew the silencer from his gun.

There would be no more use for remaining unnoticed.

He glanced at Yamamoto as he stuffed the silencer into his pocket.

"You're going to need a map in there."

Suddenly, he raised the gun, fiering a series of loud shots directly at the approaching guards, efficiently shortening the window of time the teenagers needed to get into the building.

He released a groan of annoyance.

"How did Roamers afford all of these guards in the first place?" he asked.

"My sister probably gave them her allowance." Gokudera answered, sounding equally annoyed.

Reborn gave a grunt in agreement.

Yamamoto tensed up rather dramatically at Gokudera's words, his head snapping in the other teenager's direction with wide eyes.

"Your family's loaded?" he asked, sounding very shocked.

A loud groan escaped Gokudera's lips, turning his annoyed face towards the athlete.

"We don't have time for that." he growled angrily.

Removing the thin tools from the rusted lock of the door, Gokudera pocketed them again, angry expression still on his face as he took a few steps away from the door.

He gave the athlete a glare before he raised his leg, giving the thick metal door a hard, thorough kick in a precise spot on the door.

A satisfying 'click' sounded from the metal.

An equally satisfied smirk spread over Gokudera's mouth before the delinquent practically attacked the handle of the door, brutally shoving it open when he realized that the hinges were rusted.

The door swung open with an ear-piercing noise that most likely alerted everyone within a ten mile radius of their presence.

For a moment, the three males just stared into the opening, seemingly waiting for something to happen.

"I agree with Gokudera." Reborn stated, readying his gun. "Now go."

The boys followed the older male's order, springing straight into the building, leaving Reborn in the entrance. Yet another distraction to draw the majority of the hired hands, hopefully leaving the hallways of the factory much more open for two teens to run through.

Shortly after the boys had gotten inside, gunshots sounded behind them, sending them into a screeching halt.

They didn't look behind though, they couldn't do that.

Before they continued running however, Yamamoto couldn't help but to ask himself just what he had gotten himself involved in.

* * *

The woman kept her eyes pinned on Tsuna, watching as her shoulders heaved with apparent exhaustion, noticing how her skin was steadily becoming paler and paler with each second that passed them by.

She had been at it for several minutes now.

The more the woman watched the girl, the more she couldn't help but to think that the girl was obviously no that used to keeping up a steady flame hot enough to melt metal for a longer period of time.

She found herself wondering just how many times the girl has ever activated the flames to begin with, seeing as she had looked uncomfortable for a lot longer than she had been looking exhausted, which had began about a minute after she activated the fires.

Still… this was the first time she had seen the orange flames.

At least, the first time in person.

Gradually, Tsuna's breaths were becoming legitimately labored, the strength in her neck having long since left her, forcing her to either lean her head back towards the concrete wall or allow it to bob forward, dangerously close to her blazing wrists.

The woman had to hold herself back from rushing over to the girl and hold her head up just to make sure her hair wouldn't catch fire, actively reminding herself that the girl was a DiLeone, and the DiLeone tended to be extra resistant to heat and live fire.

But someone capable of producing the flames directly from their skin…

A few more minutes passed, and the woman could now clearly see the effects the flames had on the shackles.

The metal was dripping.

The shackles were slowly loosing their shape.

Finally, the pieces of metal finally dropped from her wrists, landing on the concrete ground with the sound similar to that of a wet dish-towel landing on the floor, only these "towels" were glowing in a bright mixture or red, oranges, and yellows, not to mention smoking something fierce.

But Tsuna's wrists were still burning.

She openly stared at them, watching as the heat obviously lowered as her concentration stopped, but they were still burning. This rather bewildered her.

"Why aren't you stopping them?" the woman asked, making Tsuna turn her attention towards her.

It took a while before Tsuna found it in herself to answer.

"I don't know how."

The woman's eyes widened.

"What?"

"My lessons didn't have time to get round to turning the flames off." Tsuna spoke slowly, turning her attention back to the flames licking her skin, still not leaving the blackened skin that would have been left behind on the normal person.

The woman's blood red mouth opened and closed like a fish.

She blinked rapidly, shaking her head, sending her long locks flying around her head.

"How can you keep it up for so long?" the woman practically demanded.

"My core is exceptionally large." Tsuna answered almost automatically, not sounding at all proud about it. "Almost dying does that to you."

Slightly dazed, the woman walked up to Tsuna, stopping once the heat started to become too much for her, and crouched down, putting herself at eye level with the younger girl.

She took a deep breath, ignoring the stifling hot air that entered her lungs before she looked Tsuna right in the eye.

"Haven't you turned off the flames before?" she asked, looking intently into Tsuna's eyes.

For a split second, Tsuna flashed back to that first day. The first time she ever truly saw the flames, the first time she became aware of that face that she wasn't normal.

The first time she met Reborn.

What had he told her back then?

" _Calm down."_

Well, that wouldn't help, she's already very much calm due to the training making her be able to look at the flames without becoming frightened.

But…

What about her core?

Letting out a deep breath, Tsuna allowed herself to fall into the routine Reborn had practically forced upon her. Her eyes falling to a close as she lifted her hands up in front of her face.

It didn't take long before she felt her core, and sure enough, it was anything but calm.

Letting out the breath, Tsuna seized control over her core, forcing the release to slow down, slowly, until finally, there was no more flames furiously being pushed into her bloodstream.

Now, the only fire that remained, was the fire still in her veins.

Keeping her breathing steady, Tsuna allowed her eyes to open, watching as the flames slowly started to flicked away into nothingness.

Once the last flame flickered away into nothing, Tsuna sagged back against the wall, her chest violently heaving as her arms fell along her sides.

The woman stared at Tsuna in absolute bewilderment.

Despite everything, Tsuna still managed to let a light laugh escape between her panted breaths.

"I wasn't too sure I could do that." she wheezed out, voice barely audible.

"Turning off the flames?" the woman asked, her tony surprisingly kind.

Tsuna chuckled again, shaking her head before she allowed it to loll forward, looking like the perfect image of a drunken person.

"Activating them." she answered, words slightly slurred. "You kidnapped me before my tutor could make me activate them in front of his 'watchful eye', as he would put it." she raised her hands, putting up bubbling air quotes, although she almost fell to her side when she did.

The woman's face drained of color.

"We..." she gulped, trying to form the question. "We took you during a training session?"

Groggy, Tsuna raised an eyebrow as she looked at the woman.

"What did you think I was doing?"

The woman threw a pointed glance down at the girl's slightly ruffled up clothing.

"Jogging." she answered in all honesty, face still pale.

For the third time, Tsuna found herself laughing.

"I hate to exercise just for the sake of exercising." she giggled, her head moving in a small circle, the strength in her shoulder slowly returning. "Ballet is enough of a work-out for me."

With her movement, Tsuna accidentally pressed her wrist against the concrete floor.

Winching slightly, Tsuna raised her arms up in front of her, allowing her to see her raw, bright red, and visibly smoking wrists.

She didn't need to touch them to know that they were terribly sore.

She let out a long sigh, allowing her arms to fall back over her knees.

"The fire will take some getting used to." she muttered to herself, allowing her head to fall back against the concrete wall, desperate for the cool stone that had previously been oh so uncomfortable, but now was very much welcomed.

Suddenly, the woman reached out towards Tsuna, allowing her manicured hands to land on Tsuna's fragile-looking shoulders.

"We need to get out of here." the woman informed Tsuna, looking her right into her tired eyes. "We've wasted enough time."

Sighing, Tsuna tried to force her legs into movement.

It didn't work.

"I don't think I can walk." she panted, glaring down at the offending limbs.

The woman's eyebrows furrowed in light irritation, then, she shook her head, taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

"You don't have to."

Quickly, she reached down a hand, grasping onto Tsuna's wrist.

She wasn't all that surprised to find that her skin was feverish to the touch, seeing as there must still be some flame residue in her bloodstream.

With a pull, Tsuna was up on her feet. As the girl barely had the strength to keep standing, the woman took Tsuna's arm and wrapped it around her shoulder, her other arm locking around the girl's stick-thin waist.

Sharing a meaningful look, the two women stumbled out of the room.

* * *

 **A/N: And there you have it.**

 **Again, please tell me what you think of the chapter, and what you think of my decision to rewrite this, and whether or not you want this version to still be accessible.**

 **We are almost at he end folks.**

 **Well, I am done but, you are not.**

 **I'll have the next chapter out shortly, and until next time, I hope you have a wonderful continuation of the weak.**

 **Love.**

 **Me.**


	24. Target 24

**A/N: Alright, perhaps I scared some of you.**

 **I'm going to actually finish this story, the chapters have been finished and they will be uploaded during the course of next weak, that I can promise you.**

 **The rewrite shall be uploaded as a separate story to this one a few weeks after this one is finished, I am currently working through the planning process and so far, I'm really happy with how it is turning out.**

 **Not that I'm not happy about this one, I am, I even went and printed it yesterday just to have a physical copy in hand.**

 **All 231 pages.**

 **OH!**

 **And, Happy Birthday KioshiUshima!**

 **And with that said.**

 **Please.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Target 24:**

 **Hurry it up misters**

The walls all looked the same.

Well, not exactly the same, as the weathered cracks and certain parts of certain walls actually having been broken all the way through, but otherwise, it was almost as though someone had drawn up an actual maze underneath the factory.

The factory itself had been very open, with lots of light streaming in through the open windows, but after having climbed down what had probably been a hidden staircase once upon a time, the two teens were now navigating themselves through a labyrinth of hallways lit up by bright white electric lights and lined with thick metal doors, the majority of them open to reveal the dark concrete rooms inside.

Rooms sporting shackled chains hanging from walls.

Looks like the brewery was just a front for some sort of sex slave storage once upon a time.

This really did not sit well with the teens as they kept running through the corridors, following the map on Reborn's phone as best as they could, but there was just one problem.

Just where was Tsuna being kept to begin with?

Every once in a while, the two teens would encounter one or two guards running towards them, but they were easily taken down by a precise bullet shot expertly with one of Gokudera's guns, the bullet piercing with such accuracy that they wouldn't be able to stop them, but they wouldn't die from it either. If they weren't shot down, Yamamoto would take to his bat and knock the guard out with a sharp swing.

Sure, he was using his left arm for the swinging, but he had been building up the more delicate muscles in that arm, having had to do so in order to be able to write with that lib as well.

Once the cast was removed, Yamamoto was sure he would be ambidextrous.

They had passed what felt like the tenth fork in their path when Gokudera forced them into a stop, pulling out the phone once again to check the map as he skillfully changed the magazine in his gun with one hand.

This was the second time he changed it.

Yamamoto frowned at his reluctant companion.

"Where are you getting everything?"

The delinquent just glared at him, lowering the phone.

"We don't have time for questions."

Suddenly, one of the guards walked into the corridor. A tall man dressed in black like usual, but this one had a rifle clutched in his hands, eyes moving down the concrete pathway.

He had obviously heard them talking.

Apparently, Gokudera didn't think this was a problem at all.

Before Yamamoto was able to say or do anything, Gokudera had raised his gun, and with a precise shot, pierced the guard right in his left arm, sending him tumbling to the ground, screaming in pain as he clutched his bleeding limb.

The teens rushed over in the direction of the man.

Yamamoto had been prepared to run right past him like they had done so many times before, but apparently, that wasn't what Gokudera had in mind.

To Yamamoto's horror, Gokudera stopped right in front of the man, raising hid gun and pointed it at the injured guard's head, absolute murder in his eyes.

"Where is the girl?" the delinquent demanded, voice low and murderous.

The man glared back at the teen before turning away.

Obviously, this, wasn't the right response.

Growling, Gokudera stood up, glaring down at the man before he raised his leg, pressing his foot down over the bullet wound in his arm.

The man's eyes tightened as he howled in absolute pain.

"Where is the girl!" Gokudera repeated, pressing down even more violently.

Yamamoto stared at the scene in horror, not knowing what to do or even think about what was playing out in front of him.

He watched as the man raised his right arm, pointing down one direction of squared concrete tunnel.

"Down the corridor," he answered, breath heaving, "straight on for five turns, then turn left, right, right, left, down the middle and left, first door on the right." each word came out in a week stutter as the man fought through his pain and fear, not able to look away from the murderous teen.

Having gotten the answer, Gokudera didn't waist one second before he jumped off the man and sprinted down the corridor.

Despite himself, Yamamoto found himself hesitating.

He had known that Gokudera was a violent man, but what he had just done was…

He didn't want to think about it.

He hoped that, whatever happened after this day, Tsuna would be able to remove this aspect of Gokudera, because Yamamoto knew that, despite everything, there was a side of Gokudera capable of being a really, really good man.

The way he treated Tsuna was more than enough proof.

Now he just needed to extend the range of people he could act like that around.

Shaking his head, Yamamoto turned back to the man, whom had managed to press himself up against the concrete wall.

"Thank you." Yamamoto said with an apologetic smile before he took off down the corridor, following his classmate.

* * *

Dylan was starting to loose his patience.

He wasn't called the Cornell for nothing, he had an end to his patience, and when that broke, someone was going to be facing the consequences.

He had been the leader of their group for a long time, having been chosen by the other men, the scorpion being beaten by majority, and so, she was the only one in their group that still dared to defy him.

He would have to deal with that on a later date.

Right now, they were on a mission, a mission that had been going wrong ever since they had first gotten their hands on the girl.

They had gotten her, sure, it had actually been surprisingly easy. But now, they were having serious troubles going through to the second phase of their mission.

If they couldn't succeed with this mission, they wouldn't get their money, they would probably end up getting killed by the ones that had hired them to begin with.

But even worse…

They would never become initiates.

"Vincent." he call out, turning towards the Worm, the only sitting man in the room, his classes almost pressed into the bridge of his nose in concentration as he tapped away on the computer in front of him. "What's taking so long?"

You would have thought that having one of the wolds greatest hackers on your team would work in your favor, but they had been trying to make contact for several hours, and nothing!

"Something is working against me." the tallest man of their group said, his eyes narrowed in irritation as his fingers moved over the keyboard, moving at such a speed that they almost looked like blurs. "It's like every move I make is being overwritten manually on the spot." he pushed up his glasses even more, even though that wasn't necessary. "It feels like there's more than one person doing it too."

Bone breaker groaned loudly at his words.

"Who would work against us on this?" he asked, crossing his muscle-packed arms over his chest. "They don't even know what we want from them."

Suddenly, a gunshot rang through the air, making the three men freeze.

Slowly, they turned towards one another, sharing a look.

"You think it could have been Tony?" Vincent asked, releasing the bridge of his nose from the pressure of his glasses. "He has always been the reckless kind."

Dylan's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Who would Tony be shooting at this time of day?"

Bone breaker narrowed his eyes as well, his thick fingers closing into tight fists.

"Should we check in on the girl?"

Realization struck Dylan like a bullet to the forehead.

He turned towards his two group members, face set in a look of anger that made the two other men back away from him, hoping to be spared from his impending explosion.

"Someone's here for the girl." he said, seeing how the his companion's faces grew pale at his words.

"How is that possible?" Vincent asked, his glasses almost dropping completely from his nose.

"They must have tracked us somehow." Dylan asked, bringing up his hand to rub at his temple. "We have been reckless." he groaned the last word, unable to believe that he would have to use that word when speaking of his own actions.

It just didn't seem possible.

He'd never been reckless about anything before, what had he done wrong now?

They must have gotten sloppy when they had seen who the target was, such a tiny little girl barely of age, she couldn't have that many contacts-

Dylan's eyes widened.

No… they couldn't have missed something that important…

They couldn't have…

He turned back to his companions.

"Who were the girl's contacts?" he asked, almost frantic.

Their faces grew even paler, eyes widening.

There was the answer.

They didn't know.

They had gotten too wrapped up in thinking that the girl would be such an easy target because of how tiny she was, that they had completely forgotten to research who she was in contact with, who she was related to apart from the Vongola Warden, but that went without saying.

"We don't even know who her tutor is..." Dylan heard Vincent mutter from his chair.

Such an error.

Such a huge, gaping error in their plan.

How could they have been so utterly unprofessional because of a child-like face?!

"Simion!" Dylan barked, pointing his finger at Bone breaker, watching how his companion stiffened at being addressed. "Contact the scorpion." he narrowed his eyes in anger. "Ask her about the girl."

Within seconds, Simion had his phone out, pressing it against his ear.

It didn't take long before he started to frown.

"She's not answering." he answered, bringing the device down.

That was the last straw for their brutal leader.

Before long, Dylan had his gun in hand, storming out of the door.

"I'll just have to take care of things myself."

* * *

"Sir!" one of the men seated around the circle of advanced computers set up inside the living-room of the log cabin called out to his blonde leader.

A leader whom had taken the time to sit on the couch, on his knees, staring out the window with a clear worried look on his face.

The blonde was at his side in seconds.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice serious.

"The contact attempts have ceased." the man answered immediately, looking up at the blonde man with a look of frightened concern on his face. A face that the blonde quickly adopted.

Something must have gone wrong.

Why did they stop?

Suddenly, it hit him.

"The roamers must have caught on." he muttered in a hurried fear, fishing out his phone from his pocket.

In the span of a second, he already had the phone pressed up against his ear, the open line beeping into his ear.

* * *

The teens had been rushing through the maze when the phone suddenly began vibrating in Gokudera's hand, forcing the young delinquent into a screeching halt, making the athlete follow his lead, though he looked at him in confusion as he did so.

Gokudera stared at the offending object in his hand.

They didn't have time for this!

But the caller ID told him that he would have to answer it no matter what he was currently feeling.

Hesitantly, he put the phone to his ear.

"Why are you calling?" he immediately growled to the person on the other side. "We have a job to do." his fingers clenched around the device, almost cracking the casing.

"They've caught on." Dino's voice answered on the other line, though Gokudera could have sworn that the man had been right next to him, his voice echoing down the corridor. "The riptides are aware of what you're up to. You have to hurry."

"How do you know this?" Gokudera asked angrily, hoping against hope that Dino's assumption was nothing but a hurried speculation driven on him out of paranoia.

"They stopped trying to make contact."

"FUCK!"

"Again, hurry up." Dino repeated, sounding legitimately scared.

Growling loudly in a mix of irritation and repressed fear, Gokudera hung up the phone.

"What's wrong?" Yamamoto asked, making the delinquent turn towards him.

"They caught on to us." Gokudera answered, his fingers frantically moving over the screen of the phone, going through the rout they would have to run.

There was still a long way to go.

"Damn it!" Yamamoto slipped, head snapping down the corridor. "We've got to hurry."

"Don't state the obvious."

And then, they were running again, only this time, their feet were moving twice as fast with new found determination.

* * *

 _ **Rrrriiiipppp**_

The distinct sound reached Hibari's ears, forcing him into a short stop as he looked down on his left bisep, finding that his sleeve had actually been ripped.

Of course, his skin hadn't been touched, there was no way he would ever allow a group of herbivores to spill his blood, but the fact that they had actually gotten close enough to rip a piece of his shirt…

It did not please him at all.

If it was possible, Hibari's demeanor darkened even more than it had been before, turning his attention back towards the army och black clad men that were still surrounding him, weapons drawn as they waited for him to strike first.

And he would, trust him on that.

He would strike, and that would would be the very last thing these people would ever see.

"You people have disturbed the peace of this town." he spoke, voice low but it carried over the men like the waves hitting a shore. "You had the nerve to take the little rabbit." his eyes narrowed in absolute fury. "You will not leave this place unscathed."

For as Namimori would soon discover, the only way for them to be safe from the prefect, was to keep Sawada Tsunako healthy and unharmed.

Hibari's hands tightened around his weapons.

"I'll bite you to death."

* * *

The woman had been practically dragging Tsuna through the maze of hallways that Tsuna had been surprised that she wasn't surprised was behind the metal door.

Every other corridor, the woman would stop, pull out her phone, look at it for a few seconds before she continued down another corridor, keeping her grip on Tsuna so that she wouldn't drop her somewhere and so have to pull her back up and that would take up far too much time that the two of them really didn't have.

The hallways could be filled with hired guns, every turn could very well be their last, and so, the woman needed to be quick and on her toes, only turning a corner after she'd looked around it for over two seconds.

It was during one of these moments that Tsuna felt it.

The woman had, as usual, leaned Tsuna up against the wall, making sure that she wouldn't fall over before she pressed herself up close to the turn, Tsuna following her with her eyes as she, just like a hundred times before, peered around the bend, looking expectantly for two minutes before she once again took Tsuna's arm and wrapped in around her shoulders.

Only, unlike all the other times, as they closed the distance to the bend, Tsuna suddenly felt a sense of absolute dread building up in the pit of her stomach.

She didn't know how, but she knew what she needed to do.

Just as the woman was about to round the corner, Tsuna pushed as much strength as she could into the soles of her feet, pushing them into the ground, silently thanking her sneakers for having rubber undersides as she brought the two of them to a violent halt.

With the remaining strength she had, she forced herself and the woman back against the wall.

And it was a good thing she did too, for the second she forced them into a stop, the sound of rapid gunfire reached their ears from around the corner.

Thankfully, the concrete surrounding them wasn't as solid as it had once been, so the bullets simply pierced the wall, breaking it, and shooting into the cell it had once sealed off.

Those were some bullets….

One of them, had even managed to graze the woman's arm, but nothing too serious, it wasn't even bleeding.

Shocked, the woman glanced back at Tsuna.

Either, the graze wasn't serious enough to bother her at all, or she was an expert at holding back the expression of pain, for shock was the only thing Tsuna could see in her expression.

"How the hell did you know that would happen?" the woman asked, having to raise her voice over the sounds of rapidly firing bullets.

All Tsuna could do, was shake her head.

"I don't know." she answered, looking over at the rain of speeding bullets, smoke and dust revealing the path they were taking through the air. "I just felt like we shouldn't round the corner, so I stopped us from doing it."

For a long moment, the woman just stared at Tsuna, taking in her pale sweat-covered blood and dirt caked face. She looked absolutely sickly in the light of the hallway, and she really couldn't hold it against her for looking like that.

But the feeling she'd had.

The woman had read about how certain members of the DiLeone had proven to have a better sense of intuition than the regular human being, some of them going down in history for having a better than normal sense for danger than the people around them.

But this girl… she was just ridiculous.

Apparently, the girl had gotten enough of the woman's shock.

"It doesn't matter right now." she said, nodding in the direction of the shower of bullets. "How are we supposed to get past that?"

Coming out of her shock, the woman took a few second the think.

Then, she reached her one hand into her pocket, and brought out two breathing masks, transparent, made of plastic, but with what looked like a tiny device attached to the strap at the back of the head, a tube connecting it with the mask itselt.

Both masks, were _way_ too large to have actually fitted into the pocket of the woman's tight leather pants.

For a moment, Tsuna stared at the masks in confusion.

The woman ignored Tsuna's look, shoving the one mask into her hand.

"Put it on." she ordered.

"Why?" Tsuna aksed, turning the mask over in her hand, feeling just how heavy it was.

The woman herself put her own mask on, using only her one hand as she once again reached her hand into her pocket.

"The air will soon become non breathable." the woman answered, giving Tsuna a pointed look. Watching like a hawk as Tsuna sucumb to the pressure and awkwardly put the mask on, pulling the elastic strap over her head. The woman inspected her to make sure that she had put it on correctly before she turned back towards the shower of bullets. "We'll have to wait a few minuted before we can move." the woman said. "I haven't been able to make it work faster without it causing damage even with the mask on."

Tsuna chose not to ask the woman anything about this, even though she really wanted to.

She watched as the woman once again took out something that really shouldn't have been able to fit into her back pocket.

This time, it was a metallic sphere the size of a tennis ball, shined and painted with neon pink designs around a small red button where cracks in the metal met.

Tsuna didn't have that much time to study the sphere as the woman pressed the button on the thing, and held it for five, long seconds, keeping her eyes closed as she did.

Suddenly, she brought down her arm, thumb releasing the button before she swiftly threw the sphere down on the floor, sending it rolling over the concrete out of sight.

It didn't take long before the entire hallway was filled with a dark purple smoke, oozing out over the floor where Tsuna and the woman were pressed up against the wall, the woman having removed Tsuna's arm from around her shoulder so that she could put her arm over her chest.

Tsuna stared at the smoke in wide-eyed fear, feeling the effects the woman was hinting on over her bare skin.

The air was now poisonous, and her sensitive skin was picking up on it.

Beside her, the woman nodded her head in time with the seconds, keeping her eyes closed as she did so.

Fifteen seconds after the smoke first appeared, the rain of bullets began thinning out, each passing second apparently getting rid of one firearm, until there were no more sounds of firing.

But the woman still didn't move.

She kept on counting the seconds, Tsuna beginning to count them with her just to figure out how long the woman wanted them to wait.

Turns out, it was two minuted after the smoke had first filled the corridor.

Despite being a little bit afraid of the woman now, Tsuna allowed her to wrap her arm around her shoulder, pulling her away from the wall as she forced them to walk through the smoke covered ground, and round the corner.

What they saw almost made Tsuna bring them to a stop once again.

It was horrible!

What could have been around twenty men laid all over the ground, eyes closed as some of them laid on top of each other in a slew of meat-based piles surrounded in firearms and shell-casings.

Tsuna stared over the men in absolute horror.

"Are they dead?" she asked, through her words came out muffled through the mask.

This was the second time she had asked that question where the woman was concerned, though it was also the second time she had used something purple on other people.

"Just unconscious." the woman answered in an almost dismissive manner.

She glanced at Tsuna from the corner of her eye.

"Is it safe to keep moving?" she asked, making the girl turn towards her.

For a split second, Tsuna was completely thrown off that the woman would ask her this, then she recalled the strange feeling she had had before the men started firing at them.

The woman was asking if she was having that feeling again.

This made Tsuna feel a strange sense of satisfaction.

She had never been useful for anyone before, and it was a nice change.

She gave the woman a serious look, and nodded.

* * *

 **A/N: And there you have it my beautiful humans.**

 **Three more chapters to go before the end of the story.**

 **We're almost there, almost at the finish line, I finally get to put the 'Complete' status on a story that I've actually finished.**

 **The next chapter will be up on Monday.**

 **Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.**

 **Love.**

 **Me.**


	25. Target 25

**A/N: So close….**

 **I mean, we're almost at the end, I can't believe it!**

 **You know… something funny happened to me yesterday.**

 **I had this very brief lapse of interest in my planning and I decided to plan a bit on another fanfiction that I haven't gotten around to writing for a while, only when I tried to, I couldn't get past a few sentences before I was back to planning the rewrite for this.**

 **It's insane! That had never, ever, happened to me before!**

 **I have been working on this for so long that, I couldn't just move on to another story like that.**

 **Well… I guess that means you lovely humans are lucky that you've gotten round to reading the one story that I actually, legitimately, feel motivated to write.**

 **And so, without further ado.**

 **Please.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 25:**

 **Saved in the nick of time**

The two women had been walking for some time before the woman finally leaned Tsuna up against one of the walls, removing the mask from Tsuna's head before she removed her own and stuffed them back into her pocket.

The woman looked over Tsuna, taking in her general appearance.

If possible, the girl was even paler than she was before, her eyelids slipping closed and her breath even more labored than it had been earlier.

This worried the woman.

Tsuna had been practically dragged the entire way, how could she be even more exhausted than before?

Looking down at the girl's legs, the woman got her answer.

Tsuna's ankles and the skin leading up to her shins had a more purpleish hue to them that honestly didn't look healthy.

The woman felt like slapping her forehead.

The girl had said that she had more sensitive skin than the regular person, and after standing with her feet submerged in the smoke for two minutes, how could she not be affected by it?

Even though it was just a knock-out gas, the woman really needed to do something if she was going to get the girl out before someone caught them.

Quickly, she reached a hand into her pocket and pulled out a beautiful crystal perfume bottle filled with a light purple colored liquid.

Crouching down in front of the girl, the woman spritzed the liquid over the girl's legs, watching with satisfaction as it immediately took effect, the purple facing away into nothingness, replacing it with a much healthier shade of pale than the one that had marred the girl's face.

Looking up at Tsuna's face, the woman was pleased to see a more relieved expression in her eyes.

Standing back up, the woman wrapped Tsuna's arm around her shoulder again.

Tsuna made a small noise of discomfort.

"I know." the woman muttered, mouth close to Tsuna's ear. "But you have to push through it." she moved them away from the wall, dragging the weaker girl down the corridor.

In her defense, Tsuna did try to actually walk a few steps.

"We have to keep moving."

* * *

A few turns down the obvious maze, Tsuna managed to gather up enough strength to force her legs into movement, actually helping the two of them move down the corridors. They were moving at about twice the speed as they were before, but it still weren't that fast.

Suddenly, Tsuna planted her feet on the ground, forcing the two of them into an abrupt halt.

The woman immediately knew what was wrong, and she turned to Tsuna, seeing her face morphing into an expression of terror.

"What are you feeling?" the woman asked frantically, Tsuna's fear rubbing off on her.

She didn't get the chance to answer.

Tsuna glanced at the woman from the corner of her eye, then, her face changing into exhausted resignation, she moved her attention over to the closest turn, just as three familiar figures stepped out from behind the turn.

Beside her, Tsuna heard the woman release a silent curse.

Ponytail guy raised his hand, making the two women draw attention to the gun he had clutched in his grip. He pointed the weapon at the two females, the woman in particular.

The woman had to force herself to appear calm.

"Hello Dylan." she said, nodding to ponytail guy, she turned her eyes towards the stick-figure. "Vincent." she moved to the dwarf wrestler. "Simion." she adjusted her arm around Tsuna's waist, holding her closer. "What are you doing here?"

Tsuna raised her eyebrow at the given names.

So much intimidation points were removed once their real names were given.

Then again, it just proves that they were real humans once.

Dylan narrowed his eyes at the woman, his finger tightening on the trigger.

"I could as you the same thing Bianchi."

Huh… Bianchi?

Tsuna glanced at the woman again.

Yeah, it suited her.

Apparently, Dylan wasn't finished talking.

He jerked his gun in Tsuna's direction.

"That girl is our ticket to become initiates, why are you taking her away?" his voice grew louder and louder with each word that passed through his lips. Which Tsuna now noticed had a scar running over his upper lip.

Bianchi just chuckled, thought Tsuna could feel her shake a little.

"I would be an awful sister if I allowed my brother's friend to be killed for my own ambitions." her voice was strong, surprisingly so, but she couldn't fool Tsuna.

The woman, was afraid.

Simion took a step forward, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"What did you do to Tony?"

Bianchi shrugged, her hold on Tsuna tightening even more.

"He came on too strong." she said, speaking as though it meant absolutely nothing. "I just put him to sleep for a while."

Vincent tightened his long fingers around the sniper rifle he had clutched in his hands.

"How can you be sure the girl even knows your brother?" he asked, glancing accusingly towards Tsuna. "She could be lying to get to you."

Bianchi, rightfully so, glared at the man.

"She told me my brother's name, appearance, and personality before she even knew my brother, she had only noticed our slight physical similarities." the women watched as Vincent's glare lessened slightly, though he still looked ticked off at what Bianchi was doing. "My brother hasn't allowed anyone to get to know him for a long time." Bianchi's eyes narrowed in determination, her muscles tensing. "I won't let you have the girl."

Dylan let out a long sigh.

"That's a shame." he said, moving the gun so that it was now more accurately aimed at Bianchi's head, his finger tightening even further around the trigger.

Both Tsuna and Bianchi paled at the sight.

"You have been such a valuable member to us." he said, keeping his voice cool and somewhat regretful, though his eyes held none of that. In fact, they appeared rather pleased to have been given the opportunity to get rid of the woman holding up Tsuna. "But I think it's just about time that you part your way from the riptides."

Suddenly, a feeling flooded Tsuna's system.

However, it wasn't like the feeling of dread that she'd been having for the past few minutes.

This feeling, was one that filled up with a sensation of warmth, but not the one she had become oh so very used to with the fire flickering inside of her. It was the warmth of familiarity, joy, and most of all. Safety.

Despite the situation, a smile spread across her face, lighting up her exhausted features.

Taking a deep breath, she raised her head towards the men.

"I agree." she said, voice ringing out clear in the corridor.

The group of four all snapped their attentions towards her, confusion clear on their faces.

Dylan raised his eyebrow at her words.

Bianchi on the other hand, seeing the calm smile on Tsuna's face, allowed herself to relax along with her, not knowing what was about to happen, but she knew that it would be in their favor.

She just hoped it would be there soon.

Tsuna tilted her head to the side.

"Although..." she spoke with a questioning tone, letting her lower lip catch between her teeth as she studied the men in front of her. "I'm not sure if it'll be by your hand."

For a moment, there was absolute silence between them, everyone staring at Tsuna in different forms of absolute confusion, including Bianchi, whom had gotten used to the idea of Tsuna somehow being able to tell when something was coming.

Finally, Dylan let out a loud, barking laugh, snapping everyone out of their bewilderment.

"You don't really have a choice girl."

He straightened out his arm, took aim, and pulled the trigger.

Two shots sounded through the air, one shortly followed by the other my like half of a second.

Tsuna felt something zoom past her ear right in the middle of her and Bianchi's heads, right before a pained scream sounded through the corridor.

Funnily enough, it didn't come from either her or Bianchi.

In front of them, two fingers were blown off of Dylan's outstretched hand, sending the gun skidding out of his hand and his blood spraying over the floor.

Frantically, the injured man clutched at his injured hand, furiously trying to stop the bloodflow as he sunk to his knees under the horror filled gazes of the other four.

What the hell just happened?!

Another shot rang through the air, and Simion doubled over, clutching at his left shoulder, he too moaning in pain.

Suddenly, two figures ran into the corridor from where the three men had entered.

Two, very, very familiar figures.

A gun came down on top the back of Simion's head, cutting off his pained cries before he slumped unconscious to the ground.

Vincent didn't have time to ready his rifle before a bat came crashing towards the side of his head, but luckily for him, it wasn't a wooden one, and definitely not a metal one, or else things would have ended really badly for him, so in stead, he was only sent to the ground.

Still in terrible pain, Dylan turned towards the offender on his left, the one with the gun, trying to get a look at the face of the man that had forced him to his knees.

He was greeted by the sight of the barrel of a gun pointed right in between his eyes.

"I'd prefer not to kill in front of Juudaime." a gravely voice spoke from behind the weapon. "So I'd appreciate it if you didn't force me to pull the trigger." the voice held the tony of a promise, a promise that Dylan had no doubt the offender would keep no matter what.

Gritting his teeth, he closed his eyes, surrendering.

The women looked over the two men, taking in their appearance.

The both of them had blood speckled over both their clothes and faces, some even splattered over their weaponry, and they looked absolutely murderous where they stood hunched over the three men on the ground.

Yamamoto, holding what appeared to be an old beginners bat in his left hand, glaring down at Vincent, giving his unconscious body a kick to the side for good measure.

And Gokudera, hair ruffled and face morphed in anger as he held Dylan at gunpoint in front of him.

Both of the teenagers were breathing a bit heavily, but neither of them looked injured in any shape or form. Well, aside from Yamamot's cast but that didn't count!

Slowly, Dylan let out a deep breath.

He opened his eyes to glance up at Gokudera.

"How did you catch us?"

Surprsingly enough, Bianchi was the one who decided to answer.

"We snatched her in the middle of training." she stated sounding almost smug about the statement, making the boys turn towards her. "Her tutor must have tracked us with whatever trace we left behind being fresh."

This surprised Dylan, making him turn his attention towards Tsuna.

"Who is your tutor?" he asked, sounding as though he dreaded to know the answer.

Much to Tsuna's surprise, she saw a smirk spread across Gokudera's face.

"Reborn." was his simple and quick answer.

The result was instantaneous.

Dylan's breath left his throat as his face turned paler than freshly fallen snow, his entire being beginning to tremble from the sheer amount of fear he felt from the name alone.

And he had been one of the people that kidnapped his student…

Beside Tsuna, Bianchi's own face turned a bit pale as well, though to a much lesser extent than the man that had called himself her leader.

She threw a quick glance to the young girl she was still supporting.

"I'm so glad I picked the right side..." she whispered, low enough that Tsuna wasn't able to hear more than her quickened breathing.

"Should've done more research." Gokudera sniggered before he brought his gun down over the man's head, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Seeing that the man's hand was now freely bleeding, the young delinquent let out an irritated sigh and rolled his eyes.

Bending down, he ripped off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it around the bleeding wound, securing it so that it wouldn't fall of at any minute.

Wouldn't want the man to bleed to death, no matter how horrible he'd been.

Slowly, Tsuna dislodged herself from Bianchi's side, standing weakly on her own two feet and stumbling a few steps forward just as her friends turned towards her.

Gokudera broke into a run within seconds, his gun disappearing into his back pocket before he pulled Tsuna into his arms, tightly hugging her to his body, not caring that he was covered in splatters of blood.

"Thank the gods you're alright." he whispered into her hair, tightened his arms around her even further.

Bianchi watched this exchange a few steps behind them, her eyes pinned on her brother's absolutely relieved expression with a pleased smile on her own face.

Gently, Gokudera put his hands on Tsuna's upper arms, gently pushing her away from him so that he could have a proper look at her body.

He froze at the sight of her face.

Slowly, he lifted his hand, allowing it to fall on her cheek as he took in the various bruises and cuts that littered what had previously been her flawless features, dries blood and dirt marring her pale skin along with beads of sweat that really shouldn't belong there.

"How dare those bastards hurt your like this." he cursed, eyes narrowed, though he didn't take his gaze off of her, looking as though he believed she would vanish from sight should he look somewhere else.

Tsuna just shook her head at his action, lifting her own hand to put it over his, allowing herself to wallow in the sense of being near a person she knew for a fact would never raise a harmful hand against her.

It was a nice feeling.

"I'm fine." she insisted, smiling gently up at him. "I'm just a bit exhausted."

Yamamoto frowned as he walked up to the two of them, moving his bat from his left arm to the right, being able to at the very least grip the bat.

"Why are you exhausted?" he asked, very much bewildered.

"I had to melt the shackles." Tsuna answered, realizing too late that she probably shouldn't have mentioned anything about being shackled to the two young men that had both proven to be somewhat protective of her.

She was right of course as she watched their eyes move down to her wrists.

And there they were, skin bright red and surrounded by fresh and well-pronounced bruising that she was sure would last for several days.

Slowly, Gokudera took her hands into his, lifting them up between the two of them as he studied the thin limbs they were attached to.

Cautiously, he allowed the tip of his thumb to hover over the reddened area, not knowing whether it would be alright to touch or not. He chose to leave her wrists alone, in stead, wrapping his fingers around her hands as he let out a low growl in fury.

He turned his attention towards the unconscious men, fully intent on walking over there and beat them up more than was strictly necessary.

Tsuna sighed heavily, knowing very well what her friend was thinking of doing.

With great difficulty, Tsuna wriggled her hand free from Gokudera's grip, lifting the limb to put her fingers to his chin, turning his face back towards her.

"I'm fine." she insisted, smiling gently at her friend. "I just want to get out of here."

"I agree to that." Yamamoto stated as he walked up to the two, almost completely brushing off Gokudera as he wrapped his one arm around Tsuna's shoulder, pressing her up against his side in a one-armed hug.

Tsuna could practically feel the intensity of Gokudera's glare, even though her eyes had shut when Yamamoto pulled her towards him.

"I'm glad your okay." the athlete breathed, finally letting her go.

Tsuna closed her eyes, mentally debating on whether or not she should jut say it right then or wait until later.

She opted for the former.

"I almost weren't." she said, making the worry return to the boy's faces.

"What do you mean?" Gokudera asked, eyebrows furrowing.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna looked down at the unconscious men.

"There's one man missing from this group." she noted, even though she had been aware of that face from the start, and it showed in her voice.

"That's true." Yamamoto agreed, his relieved expression replaced by a look of puzzlement as he looked out over the men.

Gokudera looked as well, before he turned back towards Tsuna, his hands moving to rest on her forearms as he manually turned her attention back towards him.

"Where is the fourth one?" he asked, sounding as though he was forcing his voice to stay gentle.

Tsuna took a deep breath, slowly allowing herself to meet her friends gaze.

"In my cell." she answered. "Knocked out and bound."

This made Yamamoto frown, taking a step closer to his fellow classmates.

"Why is he in there?"

Tsuna had to swallow before she could bring herself to answer.

"He...eh…." she glanced down at her still-open sweater, bringing her hands to reattach the sides to the zipper. "He was more… eh… hot-blooded, than the others." as she said this, she self-consciously zipped up her sweater well over her chest, all the way up to her neck.

She was shielding herself, even though that should no longer be needed.

Of course, the boys noticed this action, and they did not like it one bit.

Yamamoto's eyes narrowed, his fingers tightening around the bat. Gokudera's own fingers tightened around Tsuna's arms, a light growl escaping his lips.

Seeing how the boys were letting their anger take over, Tsuna quickly put her hands of Gokudera's upper arms, making him look back up at her.

"He was stopped before he could actually do anything." she insisted, trying for a smile as she pointedly looked over her shoulder at the woman that had been left practically forgotten.

The boys followed her line of sight, and their eyes landed on Bianchi.

Whom, looked over their little group with her arms crossed, eyes glinting with a teasing expression that she was forcing herself to keep in.

If possible, Yamamoto's eyes narrowed even further, his fingers tightening around the handle of his bat to the point where the material dented under his grip.

With it being his old, light-weight practice bat from when he was younger, he wouldn't be able to actually do any real damage to the woman, but that didn't mean he wouldn't give it his best shot if he had to.

"Yo." he greeted her halfheartedly.

"Yo." she greeted right back, though her greeting was a lot more playful and smug, as shown by the smirk playing on her blood-red lips.

Gokudera however, stiffened where he was standing.

Swiftly, he yanked Tsuna behind him, her reflexes forcing her to grab onto the back of his shirt so that she wouldn't fall onto the ground by the force of his pull.

This seemed to go unnoticed by Gokudera, or he simply brushed the reaction off as caused by something entirely different, as he focused all of his attention on his sister, openly giving her the most hateful glare one could ever hope to accomplish.

The woman however, seemed non-phased by this, and instead, opted to smile warmly at him in return.

"Hello brother." she greeted, voice heavy with affection.

This only made Gokudera growl back at her.

"Stay away from Juudaime." he ordered, holding out his arms on either side, preventing the woman to reach Tsuna should she attempt to do so.

But Bianchi just crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head as she took in the scene that played out in front of her.

She took in her brothers protectiveness of the girl, and her smile grew all the more kinder.

Tsuna turned her head back and forth between the two siblings, not really knowing what to do in that sort of scenario, and even if she tried to, she didn't know if she would have the energy or even strength to make any form of difference.

Finally, she turned her attention backwards, towards the men still knocked out a few feet away from them.

She didn't particularly like how close they still were to them.

Gently, she put her hand on her friend's shoulder, making him snap his attention away from his sister and move it to her in stead.

He glanced at her from over the shoulder her hand was resting on.

"Gokudera-kun..." she muttered weakly as she glanced over to Bianchi. "Bianchi saved me."

She watched as Gokudera's olive eyes widened at her words.

She threw another glance behind them towards the men.

"Can we not fight this moment?" she looked up, right into the one eye she could see from where his head was positioned. "We still need to get out of his building."

Gokudera looked between the two females, his mind obviously whirling before he finally relented, letting out a long breath before he reached up his hands, ruffling his hair in irritation.

Bianchi's eyes widened at the actions.

"I don't like this..." the delinquent grumbled, turning back towards Tsuna. "But I'll go along with it." he watched as Tsuna's face lit up into a pleased smile.

To both Bianchi and Yamamoto, it looked to them that Tsuna became happy that he was going along with her wishes, but Tsuna and Gokudera both knew that she'd become happy because Gokudera had admitted that he actually _didn't_ want to.

A groan cut through the air, making the group of four turn towards the three men on the ground.

Vincent was stirring.

Obviously, Yamamoto hadn't hit the man from the right angle to knock him out good enough.

Rolling his eyes, Gokudera fished his gun back out from his pocket, marching up to the man as he started to get up into a sitting position.

The man didn't get the time to even clear his eyes before Gokudera brought down the but of his gun at the back of the head, sending him once again tumbling to the ground.

Growling, he turned back towards the other three, keeping his gun clutched in his hand as he looked over them.

Deciding that they probably had wasted enough time, Gokudera stalked right up to Tsuna, carefully schooling is expression to a calmer one before he gently took her hand into his, careful not to touch her wrist, scared at not knowing weather or not they would still be warm after what must have been a long time of concentrated flame power.

He shared a look with her, seeing her understanding his hesitance before he turned his attention towards the other two.

"Time to go." he said, voice authoritative.

He shared a look with Tsuna before he gently lead her away, dragging her down the corridor.

The other two followed them, though Bianchi stopped moving shortly after they rounded the corner, staring after the retreating figures.

Remaining a few paces behind the two other teens, Yamamoto threw a guarded look behind him at Bianchi, watching as she furiously blinked away what appeared to be unshed tears as she stared at her brother's retreating back.

"Let's go!" he called after her, motioning with his good arm before he too took off after his two friends, not wanting to be left behind in the maze.

Bianchi however, remained standing for a short moment, still staring.

Letting out a long breath, she allowed a smile to spread across her painted lips.

"I'm happy for you little brother." she whispered, watching the teenager's backs. "You're finally allowing your heart to heal."

Still smiling, the woman took off after the teenagers, the sound of her heels hitting the concrete ground echoing over the walls.

 **A/N: Well… that was… erm…**

 **Anywho…. After this, there will be only two chapters left.**

 **Two chapters!**

 **It's like…. I just can't….**

 **The next chapter will be up by Thursday.**

 **Until then, please be patient and tell me what you think of what I've written so far, not just the chapter, but the story in general. What do you think could be changed? Get your idea's out now as I'm still just working on the outline of chapter 3.**

 **Until next time.**

 **Love.**

 **Me!**


	26. Target 26

**A/N: This is like… I can't believe I've gotten this far in my writing.**

 **And I definitely can't believe the overwhelming response I've gotten from you absolutely amazing human beings.**

 **This is the second to last chapter before the end, and I love you for having kept up with the story until this point.**

 **There will be a nice HibaTsuna moment in here for you, and something else that I won't tell you in here, you'll have to read the chapter for that.**

 **Anyway, I'll leave you to your reading.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 26:**

 **Mission accomplished**

With their now group of four rushing thought the labyrinth of corridors, the boys got a full-on taste of Tsuna's remarkable intuition as they wove their way through the many different turns, making their way towards the staircase.

She kept on forcing them to stop at seemingly random moment, narrowly avoiding the watchful eyes of patrolling guards bearing many different forms of weaponry, but so far, none of them has actually spotted them, and that was a good thing too, seeing as Bianchi had stated that she only carried two breath masks on her and even then, Tsuna would still be effected.

Yamamoto had been confused at her words but Gokudera had just replied with a scoff and a:

"A good thing too. I don't think I'd be able to stand the smell of that smoke for more than half a second."

Tsuna had forced their group into a stop for what must have been the fifth time in the last ten minutes when Gokudera turned around towards Bianchi.

"Why do you have so fucking many guards?" he asked, irritation plain in his tone.

Bianchi let out a long sigh, shaking her head as she rested her back against the concrete wall.

"Dylan insisted on having them." she answered in a low tone, looking out over the small group of guards barely visible from where they were standing. "If it'd been up to me, I would have surrounded the factory with a chemical mine field, but apparently, that idea wasn't trustworthy enough." she said the last part with an annoyed shake to her head.

The teens looked to one another, the same thought crossing their minds.

If Bianchi was weak willed enough to switch sides because the target was friends with her brother, maybe the men were right not to trust Bianchi's idea.

Plus, they rather liked the idea of not having to deal with chemical mist that could do god-knows what to you.

Gokudera turned back towards his sister.

"How do you even afford them all?" he asked. "You're not using your allowance for them are you?" he seemed almost appalled at the very idea.

Bianchi scoffed at his suggestion.

"Are you kidding me?" she almost raised her voice in disgust. "Wasting valuable founding on something as stupid as guards I could take down in my sleep?" she looked at her brother, expression filled with mock disgust. "I do hope your views of me are higher than that, brother dear."

Gokudera gave her a look, silently asking her to get on with it.

Rolling her eyes, Bianchi let out a long sigh.

"Vincent got the money." she finally answered. "He's been making a living doing inheritance scams and hacking into the bank accounts of wealthy families to fill his pockets." she shook her head in absolute disgust. "He wanted to become an initiate to escape the sunlight's justice system."

There is was again, more termonology.

Tsuna and Yamamoto shared equal confused expressions.

Next to them, Gokudera let out a dark chuckle.

"No clan would ever accept someone like him." he muttered.

"No kidding." Bianchi agreed.

"Guys." Tsuna muttered, making their group turn their attention towards her. "We've got to keep moving."

They nodded in agreement, and continued down the corridor.

* * *

Finally, after several minutes of running, the small group made it to the staircase, sprinting up to the abandoned factory and weaving through the fallen bits of wall and rooftop towards the back door, that still stood wide open.

And there was Reborn, standing in the middle of the doorway showing off his very distinctive silhouette with his fedora and tall, lean built, constantly switching positions all the while using as little movement as possible as one shot after the other rang through the air.

Tsuna could feel her blood running cold in her veins.

At the moment, she was just getting a small glimpse of the skill he had been suppressing for the entire time he had been living under her roof.

She couldn't help but to wonder just what else he was capable of.

The sound of their approaching footsteps reached the tutor's ears, making him turn his focus in their direction, not once lowering his gun.

Immediately, his eyes locked on Tsuna.

Particularly, the state she had ended up in since the last time he saw her.

If it was possible, his obsidian eyes became even darker.

"You ran into trouble?" he asked, sounding almost angry, looking like the part even more when he realized that Tsuna was the only one who looked like she'd taken a beating.

At the tutor's words, Gokudera released an angry growl.

"We found her this way." he muttered, anger plain in his words.

Nodding in understanding, though still very much angered, Reborn allowed his eyes to trail down Tsuna's body, locking on her wrists.

Still very much bright red, and badly bruised.

Looking up at his student, he raised another eyebrow.

Without even looking, the man raised his arm, letting off another bullet towards an approaching adversary.

Tsuna watched as the obsidian made way for the familiar shade of bright, glowing yellow, indicating the gathering of flames in his eyes.

She allowed the man to run his eyes over her, taking in the general flame levels under her skin.

She noticed how he paused over several areas of her body.

Heart, lungs, neck, brain, before finally settling on her wrists again.

For a split second, Tsuna could have sworn she saw fear flash across her tutor's face, but it was quickly smothered by the light smirk that took it's place.

"You pushed aside your fear." he noted, voice filled with a complicated mix of emotions, like he was proud, but also fearful…

Why he would be fearful though… Tsuna didn't know.

"I didn't really have much of a choice." Tsuna answered simply, shrugging.

The others in the group just looked at them, having absolutely no idea just what the two of them were on about.

They were brought out of their confusion by the sound of shots ringing through the air, looking up in time to see Reborn lowering his arm.

He still hadn't looked away from the group.

Tsuna couldn't help but to narrow her eyes at her tutor, shaking her head slightly at his behavior.

He was showing off, there was no other word for it.

He fired again.

"We'd better go back to the car."

It was at that moment that his eyes finally landed on the surprise addition to their group.

Suddenly, he was no longer holding the one gun in the one hand. As he raised his previously free hand, he was all of the sudden holding another gun. One hat none of them had even seen him reach into any from of pocket to pull out.

Narrowing his eyes, he pointed the gun at the woman.

"Why is _she_ with you?" he asked the teenagers, not taking his narrowed eyes away from the woman's surprisingly stiff figure.

Looking at Bianchi, the teens found that she stood as though transfixed, her eyes wide and glittering with an unknown emotion as her cheeks flushed into a bright pink color.

Apparently, the woman was not going to speak for herself.

Deciding to take the matter into her own hands, Tsuna stepped up to her tutor.

She grabbed onto his arm, making Reborn turn towards her as she forced down the gun, saving the seemingly dazed woman from facing the apparently magically appearing gun.

Once the arm was down, she looked up into her tutor's eyes.

"Reborn." she addressed the man, speaking at barely more than a whisper. "Bianchi saved me from assault."

Reborn's eyes narrowed dangerously at her words.

"You look pretty assaulted to me." he retorted, taking in her blood caked face.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuna threw a glance back at her friends.

Turning back to her tutor, she stepped up even closer to him, making Reborn frown all the more at her actions.

"I mean..." she whispered, throwing another glance back at the others, taking in their confused expressions. "… sexually."

Reborn's fingers tightened around his guns.

He forced himself to calm down, shaking his head in exasperation before he looked down at his student, taking a deep breath.

"Just what else are you going to go through?" he asked, scratching the back of his head with the barrel of his gun.

To his surprise, Tsuna actually narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm sure you have a better idea on that than I do." she stated, voice almost a growl of irritation as as much rage her body could muster without seeping into that eerie calm was let out from her otherwise tiny body.

It was quite a surprise for everyone around her.

Tsuna has had things held from her for far too long.

Quickly, Reborn fired his gun again, successfully bringing down a smaller group of guards running their way.

He looked back down at his student, taking in her narrowed eyes.

"I don't disagree." he answered slowly, not even bothering to try and hide it, watching as Tsuna's eyes narrowed even further. "But we'll have to discuss that another time."

He turned his eyes back to Bianchi.

The blush increased over her face.

"Do you want to join us?" he asked, jerking his head down the path around the factory.

Bianchi looked very much dazed, but she did manage to bob her head into a shaky nod.

A small smirk spread over Reborn's face.

"Then follow me." she with that said, he began moving away from the door.

Walking up to her, Gokudera put his hand on the small of Tsuna's back, making her briefly turn towards him, and a shared look later, they moved after her tutor, Yamamoto following closely behind them.

For a moment, Bianchi remained standing exactly where she were, a bright blush still spread over her cheeks before she forced her head into a shake, bringing her out of the slight trance she'd been put under.

Taking a deep breath, she followed the group.

* * *

Catiously, the group moved over the road, moving around the building.

It was strange just how few guards were still around, only the few black dressed men entering their field of vision every other minute, and then they were quickly disposed of by the quick shot from Reborn's gun before Tsuna could even fully register that they were in danger.

As they walked, Gokudera kept up his position right in front of Tsuna, whilst Yamamoto brought up behind her, constantly taking in her slightly wobbly way of walk, almost waiting for the moment she would fall over.

Finally, the group reached the front of the factory, and the sight that reached them was one that forced all of them into an abrupt stop.

Hibari Kyoya was still there, still fighting the remaining few guards that were still standing, large piles of the already beaten guards littering the ground around him, surrounded by scorched asphalt from detonated sticks of weak dynamites and grenades, mauled firearms and weaponry, the majority of them still looking to be in working order, and here and there, piles of shell-casings could be spotted among the limbs.

Wide eyed, Tsuna was reminded of the sight of the men through the purple smoke Bianchi had created, but the distinct difference with the bodies themselves, was that they were all battered and bruised way past the point of recognition, some of them looking as though they had broken several bones and Tsuna wouldn't be surprised if several of them came out paralyzed in some parts if not every part of their bodies. It was a truly frightening sight.

And yet, that was not the reason she'd frozen up.

The visual knowledge that Hibair Kyoya, the demon of Namimori, had come along with the rescue party, was far too shocking than the fact that he was capable of beating op more than a hundred men, and come out relatively unscratched.

Hibari Kyoya beating up large numbers of people kind of went without saying.

With the sheer amount of guards the Riptides had gotten for themselves, Tsuna wouldn't be surprised if only about a handful of the numbers were actually good at what they were paid to do.

Reborn glanced at his student, smirking at her reaction.

"He insisted on helping out you know." he said, taking a stand right next to his student, his voice making her turn towards him. "Probably would have tried beating me up had I refused to allow him to be a part of the mission."

Tsuna blinked rapidly as she registered what he just said.

Slowly, she turned back towards the scene that unfolded in front of her.

"Why would he do that?" she asked in a stunned whisper.

"I don't know." Reborn answered, stuffing his hand into his pocket. "He refused to tell me."

The tutor glanced at Tsuna from the corner of his eye, watching as she stared at the feared demon of their small town.

Hibari grabbed the arm of the guard that had just tried to sneak up on him, throwing him over his shoulder making him crash into the guard that had advanced on his front.

Suddenly, Tsuna's vision filled out with white.

* * *

 _ **Flash**_

 _There was a little boy, barely more than the age of seven with straight black hair._

 _ **Flash**_

 _He was looking down at her with what was akin to an encouraging smile, even though his mouth didn't mirror the emotion._

 _ **Flash**_

 _The boy moves with great skill through a small crowd of children around his age and a few even younger, hitting and kicking them all the while anger is clear on his face._

 _ **Flash**_

 _A small hand lands on her head, ruffling her hair as she feels a strange sense of warmth._

 _ **Flash**_

 _A small, slightly chubby hand reaches out towards her, smaller hands, her own hands, reaches out towards the outstretched limb, taking something glittering from within the chubby fingers. Though she cannot get a good look on what the object is._

 _ **Flash**_

 _A glint of a steel gray iris as it looks down at her._

 ** _Flash_**

* * *

The flashes had gone through her head at such a speed that Tsuna had had legitimate problem keeping up with them, but she managed it.

Only now, as she was suddenly hit with a piercing, pounding pain in her temple, she wished she hadn't.

The suddenness of it all temporarily caused a lack of strength in her legs, causing them to buckle under her miniscule weight.

She probably would have fallen to the ground had Gokudera not grabbed her, steadying her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, looking at her face from over her shoulder.

She shook her head, brushing off his concern.

"It's nothing."

With a swift and skilled jab to the back of the neck, Hibari brought the final guard to the ground.

Tsuna watched as the prefect let out a small, winded breath before he gave his tonfa a quick spin, getting rid of the blood that had stuck to them before he turned his attention towards the group still standing a few meters away from him.

His eyes immediately locked on Tsuna, steel gray orbs moving over her within a second's time frame, taking in whatever injuries she may have on her.

Of course, she knew there were a few.

The look he had in his eyes… Tsuna just couldn't place it.

Tsuna had been so caught up in her own mind that she hadn't noticed that Reborn was moving towards the prefect, that is, until Gokudera physically moved her forward, his hands firmly planted on her shoulders as he gently pushed her over the asphalt.

Before long, the group was standing in front of the demon of Namimori.

For the first time, Hibari Kyoya actually looked a bit worn down. His once proper and ironed clothing wrinkled, speckled in dirk and blood, some areas were even ripped but none of the blood appeared to be his own.

Even his hair looked a bit disheveled.

The prefect turned his attention towards Reborn.

"I'll deal with the rest" he said confidently, just the tiniest bit out of breath.

Reborn raised an eyebrow at this.

"How do you plan on doing that?" he asked, looking over the eighteen year old.

Tsuna and Yamamoto shared a look.

When Hibari says he's going to do something, you don't question it. You know he's going to do it, because Hibari doesn't say he will do anything he knows he won't be able to succeed in doing.

He might be known as a demon, but he was an honest one with strong morals.

Sure enough, Hibari narrowed his eyes at Reborn's word.

"I've got contacts." he answered swiftly. "I'll deal with them."

For a long moment, Reborn just stated at the younger man, eyes not moving away from the prefects steel eyes.

Eventually, he relented.

He nodded in agreement, turning his attention from the eighteen year old boy's stare and in stead directed them over to the rest of the group.

"Let's go to the car." he practically ordered.

Hibari wouldn't have this however.

"Actually." he spoke up, making the group turn towards him. "I'd like to speak to Sawada alone before you leave."

Immediately, Tsuna felt Gokudera stiffen behind her, his hands still resting on her shoulders tightening around the fabric of her sweater.

"What are you-"

"Gokudera-kun." Tsuna spoke calmly, bringing her friend down from the explosion of fury he was about to unleash on the prefect, and that most certainly wouldn't end well. "It's fine.

She looked over her shoulder at her friend, taking in his conflicting emotions before his shoulders finally sagged in resignation.

"Fine..." he muttered, allowing his hands to fall from her shoulders.

As he group moved away, the delinquent pointed a finger at the prefect.

"If you keep her back for too long, you'll regret it."

Hibari only raised his eyebrow at his words.

Finally, she and Hibari were left completely alone.

Well, not alone, they were still surrounded by piles of unconscious guards but they didn't exactly count, now did they?

Tsuna could feel the prefects eyes on her, but she just couldn't bring herself to look up, the very feel of his steel colored eyes on her was making her uncomfortable, but there was no way it would be alright for her to voice these thoughts.

Then, he moved.

A hand moved from his side, reaching up to her bloodied face.

She tensed up, consciously holding her breath as the calloused hand hovered over the side of her face. A thumb brushed the hair away from her temple, making her cut all the more visible to the eighteen year old in front of her.

For a moment, Hibari just stared at her, studying her cuts.

Finally, he let his hand drop.

"These people are lucky." his dark voice echoed over the fallen bodies, bouncing off of the concrete structures surrounding them, Tsuna could feel her shoulder stiffening more and more witch each word that reached her ears. "Your wounds are little more than superficial." the hand fell away from her face. "If they hadn't, these men would have faced a much more brutal punishment than the one already in store for them."

Slowly, Tsuna nodded along with his words.

Feeling more daring at Hibair's less-than-hostile tone, Tsuna allowed herself to raise her eyes to look at him, and immediately, her eyes fell on a small cut running over his left cheek.

Her arm moved on it's own, raising from her side and up towards his face.

Before she could stop it, her fingertips brushed against the torn skin over his cheekbone.

It wasn't a deep cut, it wasn't even bleeding, but to know that his skin had opened spoke about how someone had actually been good enough to land a physical blow on the demon, be it through a close hand weapon or a bullet.

She didn't get to think about this for much longer.

A second after her fingertips had made contact, Hibari's own arm flew up on what could only be instict, and latched on to Tsuna's wrist, his fingers wrapping around the area just below her reddened skin.

She froze up at the touch.

"S-sorry." she stuttered, looking to the ground.

Hibari however, glanced at Tsuna's wrist from the corner of his eye, and his eyebrows drew together into a frown.

He moved her arm away from his face, turning it in a way that revealed her red wrist to him. He glanced down at her for a moment, before he allowed his hand to move up, wrapping his hand around the red skin.

Tsuna's eyes widened as she felt this, head snapping up to look at the prefect.

Thankfully, it didn't appear as though her skin was burning him, but he did frown at the contact.

He looked at her, meeting her eyes full on.

"Why does your skin feel feverish in this particular spot?" he asked, voice carrying a tone of suspicion as he looked at her.

She frowned right back.

"It's been quite some time." she said, looking down to where he was holding her. "Just how hot were those flames?"

It wasn't until the second that followed that Tsuna realized that she probably shouldn't have said that.

Hibari no longer attempted to hide his anger, his face morphing into an expression of pure fury as his head snapped up to look up at Tsuna.

"They used flames on you?!" he asked, voice louder than normal and thunderous, though still not loud enough that his words would reach any other pair of ears than her own. Well, hers and the hundreds of battered up guards that surrounded them.

Slightly bewildered, Tsuna shook her head.

Hibari raised an eyebrow at her reaction.

"No." she clarified. "And even if they had, flames have no effect on me."

He gave her a questioning look, expecting her to give him more than that. But no.

She shook her head, slowly taking her hand out of his.

"I'll explain it later." she promised, taking a step away from him.

For a moment, it looked as though the prefect wanted nothing more than to object, to demand an answer from her. But eventually, his shoulders sagged as he relented.

He pierced her with a serious look.

"I'll hold you to that." he stated firmly.

"I know you will." Tsuna answered with a court nod.

Noding back at her, Hibari jerked his head to the side, motioning with a glance in the direction where the others had disappeared off to.

With a graceful bow, Tsuna took off in the direction the others had gone off to, her body soon breaking into a light jog as she rushed over the paved ground under them.

Hibari watched her back as she went, eyes trailing over the exhausted and slightly tense movements of her muscles, and his face morphed into an expression of well hidden concern, his own muscles tensing up as he physically kept himself from rushing after her.

That wouldn't so, it would serve no purpose aside from possibly scaring the life out of her.

As it turned out, Tsuna already had a form of help waiting for her just a hundred meters from where they had been talking.

Gokudera had remained behind, leaning against the wall that served as the barrier keeping their car out of sight.

He pushed himself off of the wall as Tsuna came up to him, putting his hand at the small of her back before the two of them disappeared around the turn.

Not even a minute later, the distinct sound of a barely audible engine reached Hibari's ears.

Finally, they were gone.

Letting out a long sigh, Hibari rolled his shoulders, getting rid of the slight ache that had formed in them before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a sleek black phone.

Pressing one button, he put the device to his ear.

"Yes, I need to talk to the chief."

* * *

 **A/N: And there you have it!**

 **Please tell me what you think about the chapter, and the story in general, any ideas you wish to include into the rewritten version, tips you want me to think about, heck, you can tell me scenes you were thinking could fit into the rewritten version, I'll read them, think them over, and see if they would fit in or not.**

 **The next chapter will be up on Sunday.**

 **Until then, I want you humans to have a wonderful time. I'll try to plow through the planning of the rewrite which is taking a lot longer than I had originally believed it to be, and I'll see you again in the near future.**

 **Hugs and kisses.**

 **Love.**

 **Me!**


	27. Target 27

**A/N: Alright… this is it.**

 **This is the last chapter I'm writing in this story, and I cannot even express how almost relieved I am that I actually managed to go through with it till the end.**

 **So… without further ado.**

 **Please.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter 27:**

 **All is not well yet**

For the third time, the black car pulled into a stop in front of the log cabin.

As the engine died, Gokudera practically threw open the door, stepping up to the passenger door with a collective expression on his face.

The others followed him out of the vehicle.

Quietly, Gokudera opened the passenger side door, revealing the sleeping figure on the other side.

Tsuna's exhaustion had returned to her during the ride, gradually making it harder and harder for her to keep her eyes open as the adrenaline left her system. She was knocked out by the time they arrived at the outside of the forest.

"Take her inside." Reborn instructed, closing the door on the driver side.

Carefully, Gokudera slid his arms behind Tsuna's back and under her knees, lifting her up into his arms with little effort. Her head slumped against his shoulder, her arms folded in her lap as he expertly adjusted his hold on her, making sure she wouldn't be uncomfortable.

A small frown spread across his face.

He could still clearly recall just how much she had felt in his arms that one time he had caught her from falling off of the ladder in the library, and she had been pretty light back then, but right now, it felt as though he was carrying a human sized bag of unpopped popcorn.

How much more weight was she supposed to loose?

Slowly, the group moved towards the stairs of the cabin.

By the time they reached the porch, the door was thrown open by a very happy, yet slightly frantic looking young adult with a thick head of blonde hair.

Dino looked over the group.

"Where did Kyoya go?" he asked, showing remote worry for the rude eighteen year old.

"He'll deal with the clean up." Reborn answered.

It was at that moment that the blonde noticed the passed out girl in Gokudera's arms.

His eyes widened just a fraction.

"Is that her?" he asked in a small voice, looking absolutely shocked at the sight.

"What's wrong?" Reborn asked, frowning at his ex student.

Dino's hand rose up to brush the hair out of Tsuna's eyes, pretty much ignorant to the angry expression Gokudera was giving her.

"She's so tiny." in his head, the image of a muscle-bound man flashed in his mind.

Reborn raised his eyebrow at his student.

"She is her mother's daughter too." her reminded him before the group finally moved into the cabin.

"Put her on the couch." Reborn said, pointing towards said piece of furniture as he put his keys and gun on top of the mantlepiece.

Yamamoto put his bat on the table, frowling lightly at the flecks of blood that littered over the wood.

Equally gently as when he had picked her up, Gokudera moved her over to the couch, slowly allowing her body to fall down onto the soft cushioning and pelts before he let his arms slip out from under her body.

She shifted a little at the movement, but she remained dead to the world, locked up in the land of dreams.

Making sure that she would remain where she lay, Gokudera got off the ground and disappeared into the kitchen. Yamamoto took his place at Tsuna's side, brushing the hair out of her eyes.

He turned to look at Reborn.

"What are you going to do?"

"What's even wrong with her?" Dino asked his own question, still seemingly shocked at the mere sight of the girl he had taken to calling his little sister. "Asside from the obvious cuts and bruising of course."

Reborn looked at his student with a thoughtful expression, his eyes blazing yellow.

"She's exhausted her flame core." he said slowly, moving his eyes up and down her tiny frame.

Dino looked shocked at this revelation.

"How did she do that?"

"She melted her shackles." Bianchi answered for him, her heels clicking against the floor as she walked up to her fellow twenty-something year old, her eyes pinned on the girl she had helped break out of the factory.

The blonde turned to frown at her.

"Why are you even here?"

Bianchi slowly turned towards the young Warden, her eyes speaking of absolute murder along with her general thoughts about Dino's absolute insanity.

"Say what you want about me." she said, holding up a finger in the air between them. "But don't you dare think I would ever willingly hurt my brother."

Their eyes shift over to said delinquent as he exited the kitchen, a bowl of water in hand as he thoroughly soaked a rag in it's contents.

They followed him as he shooed away Yamamoto from the couch, carefully settling down next to the sleeping girl on the sofa, wringing the rag out of access water before he gently began to rub the cloth over her cuts, carefully washing off the blood marring her pale skin, cleaning out the rather large cuts with the most gentle expression Bianchi had ever seen on his face.

She couldn't help but to smile at him.

Finally, Dino turned his eyes back to Bianchi.

"Why was she shackled?"

In his eyes, it looked as though the girl laying passed out on the couch couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to.

Bianchi sighed, crossing her arms.

"For caution." she shook her head. "They didn't know her physical abilities."

Reborn raised an eyebrow at her words.

"Her only real physical skill is ballet." he said, looking at the woman in absolute disbelief.

No right minded person could look at Tsuna and legitimately believe that she would be capable of fighting her way out of a heavily guarded factory.

He'll have to fix that at a later date.

Bianchi crossed her arms under her chest.

"Well, my "companions", were idiots." a light smirk spread across her full lips. "After all, they were the ones who decided to put me on guard duty."

Reborn couldn't help but to smirk alongside the woman.

Schooling his face, he settled down on the floor next to the couch, sitting down right next to his student's side.

Dropping the rag into the bowl, Gokudera got off the ground, having gotten most of the blood off of Tsuna's face. His eyes lingered on her sleeping figure as he walked back into the kitchen to drop off the bowl.

Straightening out his suit, Reborn took Tsuna's hand into both of his.

Dino frowned at his ex tutor.

"What are you doing?"

Reborn brushed his thumb over the back of her hand.

"Watch."

Slowly, a glow started building up in Tsuna's hand under Reborn's touch, glowing brighter and brighter the longer he held on.

After a while, Reborn allowed his eyes to slide to a close.

The small group watched in absolute wonder as the yellow glow slowly started to move down her arm, following along the lines of her veins, slowing through her skin.

As the glow passed under the bruise on her wrists, some of the glittering glow leeched itself onto the affected areas, the rest continuing down the bloodstream, spreading throughout her entire body in a slow, but sure pace.

Every time the glow passed over a bruised area, some of it remained. By the time it had passed through the entirety of her torso, almost the whole left side of her body was aglow, making several eyebrows morph into angry frowns, though Reborn kept his eyes closed in concentration.

Eventually, the glow extended to her face, the glow sticking to the edges of her cuts before it kept flowing down her throat, sinking down into the center of her chest, leaving her physical heart untouched.

Probably a good thing too.

Slowly, Reborn removed his hands from hers.

The group watched in absolute fascination as the glow spread out over her cuts and bruises, slowly eating away at the darkened skin, the bruises aged several days in the matter of seconds, the red, irritated skin on her wrists faded back into the regular rosy pale, leaving nothing but clear skin in it's wake. The cuts slowly but surely began to knit themselves together, forming small scars before they too began to fade into nonexistence.

Along with the injuries, the glow faded away until there were no trace of them ever having been there in the first place.

During this entire process, Tsuna's face had slowly grown more and more relaxed until she looked as though she had gone to bed right after a long needed shower.

The relief was almost contagious.

Obviously pleased, Reborn turned back towards the small group, taking in their wide-eyed expressions as they openly stared at his student.

Blinking fast, Dino gulped, clearing his throat of the lock on his vocal cords.

"What just happened?"

Reborn looked at his ex-student, brushing the hair out of his current one's face.

"Tsuna doesn't need a medior." he glanced towards the two teenage boys, seeing the completely calm expressions on their faces. This wasn't new to them. He looked back towards the bewildered young adults. "Her whole body is one."

Shaking her head, Bianchi glanced down at the ground.

"Things are finally starting to make sense." she muttered, making everyone look at her.

Deciding that was for another time, Reborn carefully gathered Tsuna into his arms, lifting her off of the couch before he turned back towards the small group.

"Tsuna's going to need some rest." he said, adjusting his hold. "I'm putting her to bed."

* * *

After several long hours of well deserved sleep, the girl finally blinked awake, her head comfortably sunken into the many dune pillows positioned under her head.

For a long moment, Tsuna couldn't for the world of her understand just where she were. Comfortably tucked into a large, soft, four-poster bed in the middle of an even larger room with walls made up of logs.

It wasn't red bedroom in the cabin, so where was she?

Still a bit groggy, the girl slowly raised herself off of the mattress, trying to get a better view of what was around her.

Looking down, she found that she was no longer wearing her training clothes. In stead, she was wearing a sleeveless, flowing, emperor waist nightgown that ended just over her knees. It was a nice piece and all, fitting just right around her body, but she couldn't help but to wonder.

Who the hell had changed her?

Looking down again, she caught a glimpse of her wrists at her side.

Eyes widening in shock, Tsuna raised her hands in front of her, staring down at her wrists.

The last time she had seen them, they had been bright red and bruised, and now, her skin looked just as flawless as they had been before.

Quickly, she put her hands on her face, trying to feel for the cut on her temple and cheek.

Nothing.

They weren't there.

How long had she been asleep?

"Good morning."

Jumping slightly at the sound of the voice, Tsuna snapped her head in it's direction, finding Reborn leaning against the wall, looking at her with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Had he been staring at her when she was sleeping?

Shaking her head, Tsuna put her hand to her face.

"How long was I out?" she asked, finding her voice to be gravely with the lack of use.

"Just over night." her tutor answered.

Tsuna pointedly glanced down at the gown.

"Who changed me into this?" she couldn't help the accusing look that spread across her face.

"Don't worry." Reborn held up his hand as though in surrender, but his face was still very blank. "Bianchi changed you."

Her eyes widened slightly.

"Bianchi's still around?"

"Yes." Reborn answered, a light smile spreading across his face. "She's taken an interest in her brother's current life, and she want's to be apart of it." he leaned back against the wall. "Which really will make it better for Gokudera as he'll have a legal guardian around."

Slowly, Tsuna nodded in understanding.

She threw a pointed look down on her wrists.

"Where did my bruises and cuts go?"

Reborn smirked lightly, looking down at the ground as a chuckle escaped his throat.

"Yellow flames have many properties." he answered.

Healing? Tsuna thought.

Slowly, she felt her irritation building up inside of her.

Just how many more things were he going to hide from her, even when one of those secrets had just gotten her kidnapped and waiting to be publicly executed in front of a man who's name and title only felt the slightest familiar.

She couldn't help it, she glared at her tutor.

The man had the nerve to shake his head in exasperation.

"What is it now?" he asked.

"I just got kidnapped by people who called me "princess", you better start explaining." the glare never once left her face.

For a long moment, none of them said a thing. Reborn was looking at her with a blank expression whilst she kept on glaring, waiting.

Finally, her tutor raised his hand, plucking his hat off of his head with a long sigh.

Tsuna was surprised to find that his hair was actually quite messy under his hat.

"Fine," he breathed. "It's time you learned."

Slowly, he walked over to the bed, sitting down next to her before he leaned forward, brazing his elbows on his thighs.

Taking a deep breath, he finally started talking.

"First, you must know one thing." he glanced at her from over his shoulder. "There is a world living in the shadow of this one." his hands fiddled with the rim of his hat, spinning it around in his grip as he seemingly tried to gather his thoughts.

Tsuna's eyebrows had rose at his statement.

A world living in the shadows? What was that supposed to even mean?

Still not looking at her, Reborn elected to just keep talking.

"This world is very much like the one you have grown up in, but it is also very, very different." his voice seemed to darken the more he spoke. "It's development surrounding weaponry, communication, and medicine is much more advanced. We have the best mechanics, inventors, chemists, and doctors that can be found on the planet, expertly equipped for their professions." he finally turned to look at her again. "But there are those who have chosen to dedicate their lives to the arts such infiltration, and assassination, and they too, have become the best on this planet." as Tsuna's eyes widened, Reborn's overall demeanor took on the strange emotion hinting on a mix between guilt and… pride. "Every legal inhabitant of this world is one way or the other connected to one of the many Clans, which govern this world like kings over their kingdoms in fairytales." a light smirk played on his lips. "We call this world…. The Shrouded world."

Tsuna couldn't help the disbelieving look that crept onto her features.

Reborn chuckled lightly at her reaction.

"I know, it's stupid." he said, fully turning towards her. "But it has been called so for as long as anyone can remember so no one really has the heart to change it." his face suddenly became serious again.

Sighing, he reached over and grabbed onto her hand.

"Some of the clans… the greedier ones." it was almost as though he refused to look at her. "Used their vast chemical and mechanical knowledge to create illegal bionic weaponry or even developing even more illegal experimental abilities by testing on kidnapped children." he stroked his thumb over her hand. "Those are the worst kind of Shadows."

Tsuna raised an eyebrow.

"Shadows?" she asked softly, looking intently at her tutor.

"It is what we call a member of the Shrouded world." Reborn answered calmly, meeting her eyes.

Tsuna just continued to frown lightly at him.

"What does all of this got to do with me?" she asked.

"All of it."

"How?" Tsuna almost felt as though she were signing her own death warrant when Reborn looked right at her with the most serious expression she had ever seen on him.

" _You're_ a shadow Tsuna."

 _To be continued_

* * *

 **A/N: I KNOW!**

 **I am Satan herself for ending it there, but that is seriously all that I had planned for this part of the story and you'll have to wait for the end of the rewritten version in order to get the rest of it.**

 **On a lighter note. I've got a twitter account under the username Inga_Bergman, where I will be putting up notices on my progress with the rewrite from this point on. You can also ask me questions if you want to.**

 **Also, my mother found out about that... creative platform founding site, and she made me an account for it (link on twitter because I litterally can't tell you the site name on this page). I only recently found out about it myself and my brother has been telling me repeatedly to get one, but I have always been very, very hesitant to getting one because well… I didn't want to appear to be needy, which I'm really not. But as a 21 year old with no job, I guess my mother thought that I did indeed need one.**

 **I am actually quite pleased with my current life.**

 **I'm not asking anything of you, you don't have to do anything with this information, I'm just saying that it's out there, and you chose for yourself what you want to do, I don't even have any expectation.**

 **Anyway….**

 **Goodbye "It's in her Blood", it was fun writing you.**

 **Until the planning process of the rewrite is finished.**

 **Love.**

 **Me.**


	28. REWRITE NOTICE!

**REWRITE IS UP!**

 **It's on my profile under "Act 1: Hidden from Shadows", so if you want to check that out, please do, and leave a review because I really want to know what you think of it as I am working really hard on it.**

 **This has been...**

 **A message from her Ladyship.**


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